Thrice a Stranger

William Mallinson, Professor of Political Ideas and Institutions at Università Guglielmo Marconi, is a former Member of Her Majesty’s Diplomatic Service who left to study for, and was awarded, his PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science’s Department of International History. Following a period in business as European Public Affairs Manager at ITT’s European Headquarters in Brussels, he turned his attention to the academic world, playing a pivotal role in introducing Britain’s first Honours degree in Public Relations. Since 1994, when he was awarded a Greek Government scholarship, he has been perusing British Foreign Office, Ministry of Defence, Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet archives, under the general rubric of Anglo-Greek relations during the Cold War. He has also published several articles in the press, and spoken at numerous conferences. He is an occasional lecturer at the Greek National Defence School, particularly on Britain and Russia/ USSR. He speaks, reads and writes French, German, Italian, Dutch, and Greek. His publications include Public Lies and Private Truths (1996; 2000); Portrait of an Ambassador (1998); Cyprus: A Modern History (2005); From Neutrality to Commitment: Dutch Foreign Policy, NATO and European Integration (2010); Britain and Cyprus: Key Themes and Documents since World War Two (2011); and The FCO, Hegemonolingualism, and the End of Britain’s Freedom (2014).

"The core story is greatly compelling. The topic of Greek-Turkish relations has been abundantly explored. Yet, seen through the eyes of a cosmopolitan family, one can sense the gradual rack and ruin of worlds past, while being reminded –via references to very real people- that there was nothing teleological about it. At the same time, the book does not read like an obituary; the author has not time for lamentations. On the contrary, the more explicitly sociopolitical chapters assert the obvious: in both countries a project of political restart is in order if better days are to come. Overall, the book gives the impression that its size is inversely proportional to its remit: in less than 100 small pages, the British author traverses through half a century of political turmoil, analyzes the idiosyncrasies of two petulant neighbors, denounces his home country’s “supercillious” post-WII foreign policies and shares his own thoughts on the future of the region. But given that the book doesn’t aim to be (or to challenge) a scientific argument, the reader will find great pleasure. It is not very often that the rational mind of the Englishman is successfully conjoined to the flexible worldview of the Mediterranean to produce a kaleidoscope of impressions, emotions, disappointments and hope."Charalampos TsitsopoulosBosphorus Review of Books, Issue #4 (July 2017)