REMARKS ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE TREATY ROOM WASHINGTON, D.C. DECEMBER 9, 2022 SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Good morning, everyone.  It’s a great pleasure once again to have my friend Zbigniew Rau, the foreign minister of Poland, here at the State Department in Washington.  We were just together in Bucharest for a very important meeting of the …

FACT SHEET May 1, 2020 Update: The United States is Continuing to Lead the Response to COVID-19 Through the American people’s generosity and the U.S. government’s action, the United States continues to demonstrate global leadership in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Months into fighting this pandemic at home and abroad, the United States remains …

The U.S. Embassy is pleased to announce it is bringing the American jazz and soul group Laurin Talese and a Novel Idea on a tour of eastern Poland from October 3-7, 2019.  Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s American Music Abroad program under the auspices of the Association of American Voices , the renowned jazz and soul singer Laurin Talese will appear for …

Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes by Tony Kushner (recommended by Zachary, spouse) Tony Kushner’s two-part, multiple-award-winning epic is one of the greatest American plays ever written. The first part, Millennium Approaches, won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and both this part and the second, Perestroika, won the Tony Award for …

The Martian by Andy Weir (recommended by Alison, Political-Economic Section) Astronaut Mark Watney is stranded on Mars after a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate the planet while thinking him dead. Mark is completely alone, with no way to signal Earth that he’s alive – and even if he could …

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (recommended by Sydney, Consular Section) This non-Fiction book describes how the He-La cells that are used in research all over the world came to be. This book says a lot about American culture in the 1950’s and focuses on a great contribution to the world of …

The Iowa Baseball Confederacy by W.P. Kinsella (recommended by Deputy Chief of Mission, John Law) “The Iowa Baseball Confederacy” – In his first novel since Shoeless Joe, Kinsella returns to the magical turf he is known for: a loving mixture of baseball, life and fantasy, in a world where dreams don’t have to come true, …

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich (recommended by Matthew, Security Section) “For more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served his beloved people, the Ojibwe, on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Now, nearing the end of his life, Father Damien dreads the discovery of …

Last of The Breed by Louis L’Amour (recommended by Mark, General Services Section) Last of the Breed, a 1987 book by Louis L’Amour, tells the fictional story of Native American United States Air Force pilot Major Joseph Makatozi, who was shot down by the Soviets over the ocean between Russia and Alaska, captured and then …

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (recommended by William, Political-Economic Section) The great American author Earnest Hemingway once said “All American literature begins with Huckleberry Finn.” Although the story is ostensibly an adventure tale about a vagabond young boy and an escaped slave traveling on the Mississippi River prior to the Civil War, …

Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West by Stephen E. Ambrose (recommended by Connie, spouse) It is a biography of Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809). He was a Virginia Tidewater gentleman and lifelong friend of Thomas Jefferson’s. Ambrose makes clear that Meriwether Lewis was the brain and soul of the 1803-1806 …

Ambassador recommends My Antonia  by Willa Cather A beautiful story of immigrants in Nebraska in the late 19th century – Norwegians, Austrians, Russians, and Bohemians.  One of America’s greatest, most sensitive writers of a profoundly American story with some human relevance today.     Cider House Rules by John Irving (recommended by Donald, Consular Section) …

Recently the U.S. Mission to Poland invited American Diplomats and their family members to recommend their favorite book by an American author.  Diplomats of all ranks and family members of all ages submitted their recommendations, and shared briefly why they liked the book.  This list and the personal explanations of why the Americans recommended these …