As Canada’s ambassador to the United States from 1981–89, Allan Gotlieb developed a new strategy to accommodate the diffuse power system in Washington. Gotlieb distinguished himself by transforming the Canadian embassy into a networking hub, thus giving Canada access to critical information, decision makers, and opinion leaders. He reached out beyond traditional embassy circles to members of Congress, NGOs, and the media. This collection of essays pays homage to Gotlieb’s lifelong service and his remarkable effectiveness as a diplomat. It also updates Gotlieb’s approach to diplomacy for the digital age, asking the question: what innovations must the new generation of diplomats enact?

To address this question, Janice Gross Stein, director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, has gathered a formidable group of thinkers and practitioners to shed light on the art of diplomacy. The result is an impressive survey of Canada’s efforts in international diplomatic relations.

Some of the essayists argue for major reform, whereas others suggest that diplomacy should remain unaltered at its core. Among the former is Arif Lalani, the director-general of policy staff for the Department of Foreign Affairs, who argues that we need “open diplomacy and open policy development,” which reaches out to communities being formed through an ever more interconnected citizenry.

A few other examples of the excellent selections are historian Robert Bothwell’s superb short biography of Gotlieb, and the argument made by Dalhousie University’s Denis Stairs that, despite an abundance of online information, there is still no replacement for the sharp analysis and expertise of professional diplomats – diplomats, Stairs adds, like Allan Gotlieb.