What do you think?
Married to the Foreign Service: An Oral History of the American Diplomatic Spouse
Book by Fenzi, Jewell, Nelson, Carl L.
- GenresOral History
290 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1994
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 11, 2022
Based on 170 interviews, “Married to the Foreign Service” is an oral history covering ~1930-1994 with women’s eyewitness accounts of global history plus their own emerging feminist history as a group. Foreign service spouses included naturalized citizens (diplomats, CIA & foreign aid staff married women where they were stationed abroad) as well as women of color, as intl govt service was not just a WASP thing, esp after WWII.
20th century diplomatic service wasn’t just cocktail parties in far flung places. There are stories of kidnappings, embassies under siege, war and Cold War, etc. along with the stress of moving to a different country every few years with little control over where it would be.
The biggest thread though is the story of ORGANIZING for foreign service spouses’ rights, which began in 1960 when women women up from decades of self-abnegation to realize to how badly they were taken advantage of. Foreign service spouses were expected to work to support the Embassy with neither pay nor pension. A rare few managed jobs outside the service, but made little due to continually moving to new countries and being women. Women whose husbands divorced them in a mid-life crisis, often wound up in penury with no savings, no pension, no health insurance, after a lifetime of service.
The oral histories of how they organized and won rights is inspiring. Whether you are interested in tales of women’s daring do or the shifting roles of gender over the decades, this book is just wonderful.
20th century diplomatic service wasn’t just cocktail parties in far flung places. There are stories of kidnappings, embassies under siege, war and Cold War, etc. along with the stress of moving to a different country every few years with little control over where it would be.
The biggest thread though is the story of ORGANIZING for foreign service spouses’ rights, which began in 1960 when women women up from decades of self-abnegation to realize to how badly they were taken advantage of. Foreign service spouses were expected to work to support the Embassy with neither pay nor pension. A rare few managed jobs outside the service, but made little due to continually moving to new countries and being women. Women whose husbands divorced them in a mid-life crisis, often wound up in penury with no savings, no pension, no health insurance, after a lifetime of service.
The oral histories of how they organized and won rights is inspiring. Whether you are interested in tales of women’s daring do or the shifting roles of gender over the decades, this book is just wonderful.
May 24, 2013
This oral history book starts with what it's like to be married to a Foreign Service Officer in the 1920s and goes up to the 1990s (when this book was published). I read with interest because I am married to a Foreign Service Officer. Boy have times changed! Back in the old days, wives were expected to have fancy tablesettings - silver, good china - the works -- and pull out all the stops for dinner parties several times a week for government VIPs. Also, because only well-connected and wealthy men were in the Foreign Service (and because they only married women from similar backgrounds) the wives all left behind their nannies, maids, and leisurely lives to live in unknown lands. Quite different today. One of the things that struck me most about the then vs. now: Traveling to a post, say, China would take weeks and weeks of terribly uncomfortably ocean travel. Today, you can get anywhere in under 2 days! Amaazing.
There were a few oral histories that were fascinating and could have made their own books (the black family in the 1940s who lived in India and were homeschooled by their mother) but many more that were fairly dull and lacked juicy details. The last third of the book deals with how the law regarding foreign service spouses was changed, and the politically procedure for doing so. Mostly skimmed through that.
There were a few oral histories that were fascinating and could have made their own books (the black family in the 1940s who lived in India and were homeschooled by their mother) but many more that were fairly dull and lacked juicy details. The last third of the book deals with how the law regarding foreign service spouses was changed, and the politically procedure for doing so. Mostly skimmed through that.
February 5, 2010
Fascinating history of the relationship between the Department and officer's spouses (mostly women), along with the fight for rights and recognition for the important role that spouses play in diplomacy. Some great accounts from spouses appointed to key Embassies during World War II, Vietnam, and the Iran hostage crisis. I recommend this book to anyone currently associated with the State Department - spouses, married officers, and single officers.
May 3, 2008
A little dry historical book, but entertaining in parts and I am glad to see how times have changed
January 1, 2015
Love this book so much. Have read it several times. It never grows dull.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews