The author, a retired U.S. Information Agency officer, describes how the U.S. Information Service coordinates public diplomacy efforts in a country under the direction of the U.S. Ambassador. He defines and examines public diplomacy in the context of a government's conduct of foreign affairs, and explains the evolution of U.S. public diplomacy since World War II. He identifies its rationale as an outgrowth of the worldwide communications revolution, ideological conflicts, and the interdependency of nations. Tuch focuses on the specific ways in which the U.S. Government practices public diplomacy through its diplomatic missions abroad, and offers a critique of current U.S. public diplomacy practices and four detailed case histories. He concludes that the announced goals of U.S. public diplomacy should be scaled down if its effectiveness is to be enhanced, and that America should be represented in its diversity and its totality.