Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy

The year is 1997. Michael Soussan, an idealistic young graduate, has recently accepted his dream job at the United Nations' Oil-for-Food Program, helping Iraqi civilians survive the impact of economic sanctions. Under conflicting guidance, he would help to oversee the use of 64 billion petrodollars against a backdrop of simmering international tension that constantly threatens to erupt into an all-out war.

An absolute beginner in the world of international diplomacy, Soussan finds himself embroiled in a world of spies, corrupt oil tycoons, and dysfunctional diplomats. Backstabbing for Beginners is at once an unsettling tale of one man's political coming of age, and a stinging indictment of the hypocrisy that prevailed at the heart of the United Nations.