Twists and Turns

Twists and Turns: Episodes in the Life of Ambassador Eric M. Javits Twists and Turns is a personal, revealing memoir that bares previously untold episodes of international historical interest from an insider's perspective. Learn what Alexei Kosygin predicted in a Moscow meeting with the author in 1959; how Mexico offered to sell the author its natural gas on credit after President Carter refused to have the US buy it; and how the author helped America retain its military bases in Spain. After decades as a preeminent lawyer, negotiator and well-known figure on the New York scene which included many fascinating encounters with major companies and controversial figures like Roy Cohn and Ivan Boesky, the author tells how he switched careers to become a highly successful diplomat in chemical weapons arms control as America's ambassador to the OPCW, winner of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. He writes of family, close friends and law clients including dozens of world-renowned figures from Senator Jacob Javits to Sammy Davis, Jr., from John DeLorean to the King of Spain. His experiences run the gamut from playing a role in affecting the outcome of the 2000 presidential election in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in Florida to confronting General Omar Torrijos, the dictator of Panama, in his jungle hideout. "Ambassador Eric Javits has had a most interesting life, one that has led him to encounters with the famous and infamous -from Alexei Kosygin to Sammy Davis Jr. to Ivan Boesky. He helped implement the Chemical Weapons Convention and played an important role in the 2000 Florida recount that helped George W. Bush become president. In his memoir, Twists and Turns, Ambassador Javits artfully paints a colorful word portrait about dozens of fascinating moments in history. And he does so with the palette of a true insider." -James A. Baker, III; 61st U.S. Secretary of State.