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COUNTER NARRATIVE
“I’m trying to find out what is right to do here. The situation can go unbelievably bad even when people are trying to do the right thing. I don’t want decisions taken that will make things worse,” Phil Bardo said, but his efforts are met with resistance—and failure could be catastrophic.
The African island nation of Kitega is descending into chaos, torn apart by ethnic rivalries and escalating violence. Armed militias, allegedly backed by an exiled dictator, assassinate high-ranking government officials, while insurgents clash with the military in a blood-soaked power struggle. The world looks on in growing horror, fearing a genocide reminiscent of Rwanda.
Desperate to avert disaster, the United States dispatches H. McFadden Hightower as its special envoy. His prevent mass atrocity at all costs. But Hightower's intervention sparks tension with Phil Bardo, a seasoned diplomat stationed in Kitega. Bardo believes Hightower’s heavy-handed tactics risk worsening the conflict, and their ideological clash opens the door for manipulative Kitegan factions to exploit the chaos for their own ends.
As violence spirals out of control and international politics collide with local agendas, the question becomes not just who will prevail, but at what cost—and whether doing the “right thing” will save lives or destroy them.
Packed with moral complexity, razor-sharp political intrigue, and heart-stopping tension, Counter Narrative is a searing exploration of power, diplomacy, and the human cost of war. Will you side with Bardo’s pragmatism or Hightower’s righteous zeal? The answer could change everything. Order your copy today and immerse yourself in a gripping story of survival, justice, and the relentless pursuit of truth.
The African island nation of Kitega is descending into chaos, torn apart by ethnic rivalries and escalating violence. Armed militias, allegedly backed by an exiled dictator, assassinate high-ranking government officials, while insurgents clash with the military in a blood-soaked power struggle. The world looks on in growing horror, fearing a genocide reminiscent of Rwanda.
Desperate to avert disaster, the United States dispatches H. McFadden Hightower as its special envoy. His prevent mass atrocity at all costs. But Hightower's intervention sparks tension with Phil Bardo, a seasoned diplomat stationed in Kitega. Bardo believes Hightower’s heavy-handed tactics risk worsening the conflict, and their ideological clash opens the door for manipulative Kitegan factions to exploit the chaos for their own ends.
As violence spirals out of control and international politics collide with local agendas, the question becomes not just who will prevail, but at what cost—and whether doing the “right thing” will save lives or destroy them.
Packed with moral complexity, razor-sharp political intrigue, and heart-stopping tension, Counter Narrative is a searing exploration of power, diplomacy, and the human cost of war. Will you side with Bardo’s pragmatism or Hightower’s righteous zeal? The answer could change everything. Order your copy today and immerse yourself in a gripping story of survival, justice, and the relentless pursuit of truth.
350 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 21, 2025
5 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 17, 2025
Anyone who has contended with overconfident know-it-alls parachuting in from distant headquarters to tell them how to do their jobs will relate to the travails of Phil Bardo. Bardo is the protagonist of Gordon K. Duguid's fascinating novel of diplomacy and civil conflict, "Counter Narrative." As a seasoned U.S. diplomat in the imaginary African nation of Kitega, Bardo knows the country well and has no easy answers to the country's simmering societal tensions and low-level ethnic violence. He also knows not to unduly pour gasoline onto them.
Enter the aptly named H. McFadden Hightower, whose arrival as U.S. special envoy to Kitega does exactly that and adds a box of matches. Charged by HQ in Washington with preventing the nightmare of "another Rwanda," Hightower deploys his own self-serving analysis and more than a dash of white-savior zeal to bully all those around him into a series of missteps that spark greater, not lesser violence. Bardo objects and resists as he can while still bound by his professionalism to carry out the wishes of his superiors. And what, he wonders in his darker moments, if Hightower is right? With his wife and daughter sent home for their safety, and long nights of poker and booze filling the dead time of curfew, Phil's judgment starts to unravel ....
"Counter Narrative" is a sophisticated slow-burner of an international yarn, more Graham Greene than Frederick Forsyth, with moral ambiguities aplenty and serious questions about the role of U.S. diplomacy in the world. If some of the author's diplomat characters lapse from time to time into dialog that sounds like the exchange of position papers, so too, to be fair, do their real-life counterparts. And scenes featuring insurgent violence and its aftermath, the dangers of amateur militia checkpoints and the swaggering menace of oligarch families' armed goons are expertly and authentically drawn.
Overall, "Counter Narrative" will prove an especially intriguing read for those who have performed Phil Bardo's kind of work, seen it done firsthand, or want to learn what serious diplomacy is really all about. Waving the "big stick" of U.S. diplomatic might, it turns out, is the easy part.
Enter the aptly named H. McFadden Hightower, whose arrival as U.S. special envoy to Kitega does exactly that and adds a box of matches. Charged by HQ in Washington with preventing the nightmare of "another Rwanda," Hightower deploys his own self-serving analysis and more than a dash of white-savior zeal to bully all those around him into a series of missteps that spark greater, not lesser violence. Bardo objects and resists as he can while still bound by his professionalism to carry out the wishes of his superiors. And what, he wonders in his darker moments, if Hightower is right? With his wife and daughter sent home for their safety, and long nights of poker and booze filling the dead time of curfew, Phil's judgment starts to unravel ....
"Counter Narrative" is a sophisticated slow-burner of an international yarn, more Graham Greene than Frederick Forsyth, with moral ambiguities aplenty and serious questions about the role of U.S. diplomacy in the world. If some of the author's diplomat characters lapse from time to time into dialog that sounds like the exchange of position papers, so too, to be fair, do their real-life counterparts. And scenes featuring insurgent violence and its aftermath, the dangers of amateur militia checkpoints and the swaggering menace of oligarch families' armed goons are expertly and authentically drawn.
Overall, "Counter Narrative" will prove an especially intriguing read for those who have performed Phil Bardo's kind of work, seen it done firsthand, or want to learn what serious diplomacy is really all about. Waving the "big stick" of U.S. diplomatic might, it turns out, is the easy part.
July 17, 2025
When I was working for USIA in West Africa in the early 1990’s, there was a popular saying among State Department employees: “WAWA,” or West Africa Wins Again. It meant that things were not going to go to plan. Gordon vividly illustrates that premise in this book of chaos, conflict, and confusion.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews