Mr Ambassador: Memoirs of Sir Carl Berendsen

Celebrated for the statement: If you look at a thing and it's 51% black and 49% white, then, for Christ's sake, it's black! Sir Carl Berendsen (1890-1973) was the founder of New Zealand foreign policy.

He was a dynamic thinker, a gifted writer, an outstanding administrator and a considerable orator. Few civil servants before or since have addressed both Cabinet and Parliament; few have made or been involved in making so much and such important policy; and few have had such a significant influence on New Zealand and its international relationships.

As the Head of the Department of External Affairs, High Commissioner to Australia, and then Ambassador to Washington, he was involved in such major events as the ANZAC pact, preparations for World War II, the formation of the United Nations, the ANZUS Treaty and the Japanese Peace Treaty.

The book includes Berendsen's first hand reports of the administration of New Zealand's foreign policy in the first half of the 20th century, and his character sketches of many of the prominent political figures that he encountered during his career.