The Back Channel

"Ambassador William J. Burns is the most distinguished and admired American diplomat of the last half century. Over the course of four decades, he played a central role in the most consequential diplomatic episodes of his time--from the bloodless end of the Cold War to the collapse of post-Cold War relations with Putin's Russia, from post-9/11 tumult in the Middle East to the secret nuclear talks with Iran. Upon his retirement in 2014, Secretary John Kerry said Burns belonged on "a very short list of American diplomatic legends," alongside George Kennan. In The Back Channel, Burns recounts,…