Via Bookslut I followed a link to Salon where Samantha Power explained that she is now working for Barack Obama as his senior foreign policy adviser. Here's why:

How did you end up working for Sen. Obama?

I got into journalism not to be a journalist but to try to change American foreign policy. I'm a corny person. I was a dreamer predating my journalistic life, so I got into journalism as a means to try to change the world. I didn't get into journalism by any means to win a Pulitzer Prize or do anything like that. Back then, I was obsessed with what was going on in Bosnia. I went over there because of that; I tried to get a job at NGOs ... But I didn't wait this long [to work for a candidate] because I was such a hardcore reporter. It was because I never met anybody worth doing it for before.

A Problem From Hell: America in the Time of Genocide was one of the most important books I've ever read. It is not an easy read - not because it is written in a dense or dull manner but because it is so infuriating to read how governments (particularly the US obviously) react to genocide. All the quibbling over whether or not genocide was what was taking place in Rwanda while at the same time arguing that if it was we would jump right in there is really hard to accept. (Romeo Dallaire's Shaking Hands with the Devil is a prominent book on the subject of Rwanda and the politics of genocide denial as well.) But as hard as it is, it is riveting as well. You can't believe what you are reading as you turn the pages, and you can't believe how dedicated Power must be to have run down so many aspects of the history of 20th century genocide.

What I learned from Power was how much thorough research can elevate a political book. She talked to so many people and uncovered so many records of those involved not only in the Rwanda genocide but also in the former Yugoslavia, in Cambodia, in Turkey with the Armenians and of course, in WW2. It's a very deeply impressive work and while I was very angry reading it and trying to comprehend the actions of policy makers who concentrated more on semantics than reality (I have to hope the karmic boomerang will beat them to a pulp one day) I still felt extraordinarily enlightened about the world when I was done with it. And Samantha Power became one of my favorite writers - someone who does the work necessary to write the kind of books she wants to write - the kind she feels must be written. (I can't believe no other politician contacted her about the book. That is really really disheartening to hear.)

The fact that Obama sought out Power before his campaign for the presidency began impresses the hell out of me. This is a scholar who is deeply informed on the world and focused on changing it - if she is part of his team (and has been for a while) then clearly he is not all talk. He took the initiative to not only read her book but also to contact the author and seek her counsel. He wanted to know more about the world and he went looking for someone who could teach him.

How awesome is that?

Power has another book that just came out, one I've been waiting on, about UN envoy Sergio Viero de Mello who was killed in Baghdad in 2003. Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World is a book about why Power thinks the US needs the UN. She explains in the Salon interview:

In the book you cite Vieira de Mello as saying that countries will kick and scream at the United Nations, but that at the end of the day they get the U.N. they want and deserve. As a career U.N. diplomat, what kind of reforms was he advocating?

We have to pay our dues on time. We really have to want the U.N. to be well-endowed, and then we can use our diplomacy to make others invest in it, too. The real [potential for change] that Ban Ki-moon, the secretary-general, has is minuscule compared to what specific countries within the U.N. have. But for the last 60 years the debate about U.N. reform has occurred at the U.N. instead of in world capitals.

She also quotes Viero de Mello who said "Fear is a bad adviser" in her interview. As we have been reacting to fear in nearly every political decision made in the US since September 11th, 2001, I think we can all agree that it is not working for the country. Fear has made us arrogant, angry and foolish and in the end, it has made us far weaker than we ever imagined we could be.

My editor at Booklist, Donna Seaman, reviewed Chasing the Flame. Here's what she had to say:

Power was new to journalism when she first met Vieira de Mello, then head of civilian affairs for the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia, in 1994. Power went on to win the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for "A Problem from Hell�: America and the Age of Genocide (2002), while Vieira de Mello—known for his good looks, philosophical intellect, and absolute devotion to humanitarianism—became the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Sent to Baghdad in June 2003, he was killed on August 19, when a suicide bomber drove a truck into UN headquarters. Recognizing that Vieira de Mello's three-decade commitment to the UN is a portal onto war, religious extremism, genocide, and terrorism, Power presents a fiercely precise, extraordinarily dramatic biography detailing Vieira de Mello's courageous and innovative efforts to bring peace to Lebanon, Cambodia, Angola, Rwanda, Bosnia, East Timor, and, finally, Iraq. Power not only tells the stories of his complicated successes and failures but also chronicles the missteps and crimes behind today's geopolitical nightmares. Strongly argued, lacerating, and utterly human, this invaluable history will be a catalyst for soul searching and debate.

This book is on tap for my big summer read. I'm very interested to see what else Samantha Power has to teach me. And I sincerely hope that she continues to provide her profound intellect and understanding of global matters to the Obama campaign.