Good morning all,
Its that time of year again when thousands of hopefuls register to take the Foreign Service Officer Test in hopes of becoming a diplomat one day.
The test is notoriously difficult in that its pretty much impossible to study for, its essentially a multiple choice game of jeopardy. The upside is I learn quite a bit from the test every year and each year it gives me new topics to read up on and broaden my horizons, for example last year I took a great interest in the Falun Gong movement, which despite being a fairly recent event, I had never heard of..
So, here's your chance to share those topics that never made it to Hollywood or the textbooks!
Having taken (and passed) the Foreign Service Officer test it did not focus on obscure American foreign policy events. There was far more about civics, recent international politics, US history and law, and a few analysis questions that IIRC had no wrong answers and were looking to explore your critical reasoning and writing ability. The practice tests on State's website are a pretty good example of what you'll face.
You'd be better off reading a few months/years of back issues of the economist than looking for obscure US foreign policy history.
Not sure if this is what you are looking for but this book has been very informative. "American Foreign Policy Since WWII" by Steven Hook and John Spainer.