Flash Points: Lessons Learned and Not Learned in Malawi, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan

by Jade Wu

Jade Wu has worked on US foreign assistance projects in Malawi, Kosovo, Germany, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Philippines. Her foreign affairs analyses have appeared in a number of publications, including the New York Times , International Herald Tribune , The Hill , Washington Diplomat , and Foreign Policy Journal . She currently lives and practices law in the Washington, DC area.

320 pages, Hardcover

Published July 1, 2017

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few memoirs that captures what it’s like to be an Asian-American woman working across war zones and bureaucracies. Flash Points is an interesting introspective journey apt for a TV series or a movie.

[Jaya Viswanathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of personal tales and observations from the author sheds light on interesting (but little discussed) aspects of working in the field of international aid. For the most part, I enjoyed her narratives. The writing is raw, uncorrected and bold, which makes up for the lack of technical skills in writing (somewhat surprising since the author taught English). My major issue with the book though, has more to do with the content. While asking questions to the after having described an incident, I often found that the author extrapolated her interpretation of the motivations of the individuals a lot more that necessary. That is to say, in a few instances, I could think of the motivations of people having been completely different from the author's statements, which were sometimes presented as absolute. Another issue I had with the book was that towards the end, the author's personal disillusionment from her experiences in Afghanistan led to passages that were plainly "whiny", repetitive and difficult to get through. That being said, I found the first two parts of the book - her time in Malawi and in Kosovo - delightful to read, (despite similar issues she faced in these places). The author's own enthusiastic and problem-solving approach in these chapters was inspiring.
Overall, I'd highly recommend this book to anyone thinking of getting involved in this field, it is certainly an eye opener.