Book Review
The American Ambassador By WARD JUST
Reviewed by PEGGY BARNETT
Ward Just is a leading American writer, having published over 17 books. The American Ambassador was published in 1987 and is still relevant. The title character, William North, is a career Foreign Service officer, about to be charge d'affairs in Bonn, Germany. The time is the early 1980s, though references are made to North's earlier experiences.

In addition to normal family and occupational stories, the particular challenge to the characters is the terrorism brought to the Norths by their son, Bill Jr. Bill Sr. and his wife Elinor have had a happy marriage, perhaps too happy from their son's point of view. He has often felt left out, though not ignored. His rage is never totally explained, but some episodes are told from his perspective, so that the reader understands something of what he is feeling.

The Ambassador is patriotic and moral. He was wounded while on assignment in Africa in the 1960s, and his daring on that occasion caused him some problems. The Washington scene is presented believably; we might be reading about a current controversy. A senator, hoping to further his political career, has seized on Bill Jr.'s activities to attack the state department.

Although the parents have not seen Bill for several years, they still love him and hope for reconciliation. The reader is not so hopeful. Bill has joined an ultraradical underground network in Europe. He focused on injustice, infuriated by what he sees as American guilt, and decides that the assassination of his father will call attention to the tenets of his associates in terrorism.

The themes are typical for Ward Just: father-son relationships, youth versus age, loyalty and betrayal. Just was a journalist in Vietnam, and later came to fiction writing as a way to express important ideas. Old fragments of the grenade that wounded North years ago emerge to cause some paralysis. He has time in the hospital for philosophical thoughts, and his roommate is a young man who presents a different background, with similar problems.

As the suspense rises over what the terrorists will do, Bill Sr. struggles with a basic question. If his son contacts him, what should he do? "What would you do, forced to choose between betraying your country and betraying your friend or your kin?" His friend replies, "I do not think you can choose an abstraction over flesh and blood."

Read The American Ambassador, available at the Mary Willis Library, to see what these persuasive characters decide.

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