BOOK: Diana Johnstone's CIRCLE IN THE DARKNESS: Memoir of a World Watcher

A JOURNALIST'S JEWELS OF ENGAGEMENT Circle in the Darkness is a veteran journalist's lucid, uncompromising tour through half a century of contemporary history, intended especially for those who may aspire against all obstacles to change its course for the better.  Diana Johnstone recounts in detail how the Western Left betrayed its historical principles of social justice and peace and let itself be lured into approval of aggressive U.S.-NATO wars on the fallacious grounds of "human rights". Subjects range from caustic analysis of the pretentious confusion of French philosophers to the stories of many courageous individuals whose struggle for peace and justice ended in deep personal tragedy, with a great deal in between. This book reflects her lifelong effort to understand what is going on in the world beyond the veils of government propaganda and media deception. "Diana Johnstone is a superb reporter of a kind and calibre that barely exists today. Her principled, eloquent memoirs are often touching, and wise, and bracing in their truth in an age of deceit. I salute her." —JOHN PILGER, award-winning Australian journalist, author and broadcaster/documentary maker "Diana Johnstone has spent a lifetime trying to write the truth as you will see in this compelling memoir. Her dedication to a broad coalition for peace and against militarism is an inspiration... Readers will learn a great deal from this fascinating, first-hand look at our world from the Second War through the Cold War and, ultimately, to our "forever wars" of the 21st century." —RON PAUL, MD., Former Member of US Congress "Johnstone's recollections span the period between the Depression and the current moment, and bring to life in poignant detail the most significant events in Europe for the entire post-World War II era... Both as engaged observer and as direct participant, sometimes of groundbreaking anti-war initiatives, her accounts are always candid, never cruel; passionate and compassionate, uniformly humble; often wry and as often tender. Her account to her daughter of the last days of Johnstone's father are especially memorable in the last respect. Having lived through most of what she recounts, I only fully now understand the broad epoch she revives and enlivens after sharing her journey through it."  —RICK ROZOFF, author and editor, STOP NATO Johnstone critically dissects events and identifies trends, disclosing acute, often disquieting insights from her personal experiences: from Cold War hostilities in Yugoslavia, the U.S. antiwar movement of the sixties, the May '68 uprisng in France, the historic peace movement that led to the reunification of Germany,  the transformation of the German Greens from peace to war party, to the European Union's sacrifice of democracy to "globalization", and more. TABLE OF CONTENTS DIANA JOHNSTONE DIANA JOHNSTONE, Ph.D., a native of Minnesota and raised in New Deal Washington, has spent more than half her life in Europe as a political observer and journalist, working for Agence France Presse, for In These Times as European Correspondent, and as press officer for the Green Group in the European Parliament. She holds a BA in Russian Area studies and a PhD in French literature. She is author of three books including Fools' Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions, and coauthor with her father, Paul H. Johnstone, of From Mad to Madness: Inside Pentagon Nuclear War Planning 2625 Piedmont Rd. NE, Ste. 56, Atlanta, Georgia, 30324  clarity@islandnet.com