Podcasts and Reading Lists

So I've signed up to take the Foreign Service Exam in one months time. Super stressed!
I've downloaded several podcasts that I'm listening to in the car each day:

The Economist: Money Talks (updated weekly)
BBC Global News (updated every 12 hours)
BBC World Update (updated daily)
NPR Economy (updated weekly?)
NPR World Story of the Day (updated daily)
NPR 7am News Summary (updated daily)

So far, Syria has dominated any of the news updates, as can probably be expected. But I've also learned that September 11 is a huge day for Chile, who suffered a political coup in the 1970's that replaced the democratically elected government with a US backed dictator that tortured and killed 4500+ people in his 17 year reign. It's still a political rift in the country and is still a very divisive issue. I also learned that there is a population of women in China who are not married because they chose to pursue education instead. Although they want to marry, they also don't want to give up their careers or education. It is expected to be a major social problem in the next couple years.

I also went to the library and took out several books.

Between Memory and Desire: The Middle East in a Troubled Age by R. Stephen Humphreys
Perilous Power: The Middle East and US Foreign Policy by Noam Chomsky and Gilbert Achcar
Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy by Leslie H. Gelb
With Friends Like These: Reagan, Bush. and Saddam, 1982-1990 by Bruce W. Jentleson
The Transformation of American Foreign Relations 1865-1900 by Charles S. Campbell
Race and Ethnicity in America: Meeting the Challenge in the 21st Century by Gail E. Thomas
Guide to American Foreign Relations since 1700 by Richard Dean Burns
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch Jr, Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil
The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society by Nash, Jeffrey, Howe, Frederick, Davis and Winkler
Assessing US Foreign Policy Priorities and Needs Amidst Economic Challenges in the Middle East a hearing before the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia
Preparing America's Foreign Policy for the 21st Century by David Boren and Edward Perkins

I started on the Humphreys book already and really loved what it said in the forward:
"Their frustrated desires boil over in intense debates, noisy street demonstrations, and occasional riots and political violence. These things are disturbing to outsiders, who prize stability and calm in other people's societies, but they are a sign of vitality. The hopes of Middle Easterners may be frustrated and blocked, but they are not extinguished. The struggle... seems endless but not pointless" (Humphreys xix).
Ultimately, we're all different. We handle out needs and desires differently. Understanding those differences, appreciating those differences, working towards an understanding: that's what diplomacy is all about.