Speaking, Book Tour, and Reader Photos
from Window Seat on the World

I’m available to speak about Window Seat on the World to groups large or small, from any political party, in settings as intimate as a book group and retirement home to as large as a university auditorium or conference keynote.

I’ve done it all already.

My presentation is illustrated with slides from across our four years of travel, most of which aren’t in the book. I can scale it up or down depending on the time available, and tailor the photos shown to a particular audience’s geographic, cultural, professional, or political interests.

I can also deliver tandem, illustrated presentations about photography - with specific lessons for the everyday iPhone user - and the process of writing a book for first-timers like me.

Some of my upcoming appearances are listed under the Events tab.

The photos below capture some of my speaking and book events. They also show all the places in the world where readers have sent me a copy of my book cover.

I can’t tell you how gratifying it is to see an idea once solely in my head now beneath a cover that’s made it to several of the seven continents we visited.

Please use the Contact form to reach me about scheduling an appearance.

Public Speaking/Book Tours

The Independent Book Publishers Association awarding WSOTW a 2020 Ben Franklin Silver Medal.

Addressing an audience aboard aboard a cruise ship off Martinique in the Caribbean.

Addressing the residents of the Edgewood retirement community in North Andover, Mass.

Awaiting an interview with CBSN anchor Elaine Quijano from the WBZ-TV/CBS Boston studios.

Brian Schactman had me on NECN’s “Primary Source” show to speak about diplomacy, impeachment, and the 2020 primary campaign.

Former Secretary of State John Kerry talked diplomacy with me at the UMass Club.

My friend John Berman, now a CNN anchor, moderated my diplomacy discussion with former Secretary of State John Kerry.

Friends, family, and simple book-lovers joined me for a signing at my hometown Andover Bookstore.

Addressing the Page Society annual corporate communication convention in Boston, Mass.

Talking about diplomacy and the G7 Summit with Adam Reilly of WBGH’s “Greater Boston.”

Speaking with college students at the Liberty Square Group’s Blue Lab.

Speaking with Steve Brown at WBUR CitySpace in Boston.

Heading to the Post Office with some signed copies for loyal readers. Miss Willow kept tabs on me.

Speaking with Alison King of NBC10-TV in Boston.

After my appearance with Jon Keller on “Keller@Large” on WBZ-TV in Boston.

With Major Garrett at Cafe Milano in Washington to tape his CBS News podcast “The Takeout.”

Speaking in Washington with Julie Mason on her SiriusXM POTUS Channel program “Press Pool.”

Sharing a screen with Peter Baker of The New York Times during an appearance on “Andrea Mitchell Reports” in Washington.

The national debut of “Window Seat on the World” with Margaret Brennan on her CBS News program “Face the Nation.”

A pre-release appearance at the New England Author’s Expo in Haverhill, Mass.

The first copy of my book, received at the table where I first discussed the possibility of working at the State Department with my family.

My UPS driver delivering the first batch of completed books. He insisted on carrying them into my house for me.

Reader photos

Me, with the first printed copy.

A Diplomatic Security agent drops in from Cape Town, South Africa.

My friend Sally Canfield comes in strong - via Kindle - from Greece.

My travel companion Jason Meininger poses in Dubai, U.A.E.

My OTHER travel companion Matt Summers drops in from Rehoboth Beach, Del.

My former neighbor Tom Licciardello reads one of the two copies he bought in North Andover, Mass.

Former colleague Holly Ramer spends time productively while waiting for her car at a New Hampshire repair shop.

A test copy arrives at my house via Amazon.

My brother-from-another-mother Tim Stanton with his on the Indiana shore of Lake Michigan.

My former colleague Munir Dawan with his copy in London.

Jerry “The King” Dushane shows us the Boston Seaport skyline.

Mrs. Nancy Earley shows off her lovely front porch in Andover, Mass.

My college classmate Steve Miller throws us a photo from Fort Wayne, Ind.

Former State Department colleague - and ex-Coastie - Will Cobb with his copy in Madison, Wis.

“Kit” Palumbo giving a two-photo celebration to the release in Encino, Calif.

“Kit,” Part II.

My younger son, Kelley Johnson, shows off his copy at Kailua Beach, Hi.

My former State colleague Stephenie Foster took her book to Bethany Beach, Dela.

Ellen Lynch reads her Kindle version on the shore of Lake Tahoe, Calif.

Some of my college classmates offer a special pose in Minnesota.

My college classmate Margie Gater offers a cobbler-book two-fer from Half Moon Bay, Calif.

A D.S. agent shows his reading material en route to an assignment in Brussels, Belgium.

Our friend Eric Josephs helps sell copies to his fellow patrons as he awaits a flight at Logan Airport in Boston.

My Little League teammate Glenn McIntyre reads his en route to a wedding in Pennsylvania.

I found my work in the Andover Bookstore - next to John Grisham’s latest novel.

My wife’s longtime friend Elaine Crossley, reading the book at Groton Long Point, Ct.

My friend Bill McCann shows off his Window Seat as he cruised through the Greek Isles.

My former colleague Jessica Nieman Pierce had me sign her copy over lunch in Boston.

Handsome Pete Montross shows off his copy in Korcula, an island off Croatia.

My former colleague Christian Westermann pays tribute to the fallen at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Standing with my book on display in the Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge, Mass.

My niece Alexis Johnson with a copy at the Harvard Coop in Cambridge, Mass.

My Lawrence University sisters and their spouses take the book out for a reprise fall cruise.

Margie Gater comes through again with her copy in Heathrow Airport outside London.

The O’Brien kids share a copy in Andover, Mass.

My elder son, Patrick Johnson, takes WSOTW to a national park as he visits Half Dome in Yosemite Valley, Calif.

I presented a signed copy to a former Diplomatic Security Service agent I bumped into in the airport in … Honolulu.

Former UMass Professor Frank Talty reads WSOTW on the beach in Fort Myers, Fla.

My wife brought her copy with us on a Thanksgiving getaway to Waterbury Center, Vt.

George McCabe, who I met as a Salem City Councilor, took his copy on a vacation to Aruba.

My longtime friend Jose Juves sports his copy in historic Marblehead, Mass.

My college buddy Chris Coogan reading the book on a boat off the Galapagos Islands.

Two of the Coogan Sisters look through the book at 16,000 feet atop a mountain in Quito, Ecuador.

My childhood neighbor Judy (MacDonald) Webel of Falmouth, Maine, with a copy given by her Mom.

I gave a copy to my friend to mark the opening of The Treasury, his new Indian restaurant in Burlington, Mass.

A Diplomatic Security Service agent settled in with a replacement copy after she lost her original in a move to Mexico.

Foreign Service wife and SuperMom Jennie LaBranche finishes the book at Glencairn Beach in Capetown, South Africa.

Window Seat on the World is being distributed worldwide, sold through bookstores - both national and independent - and available to public libraries through the network of Ingram, Baker & Taylor.

You also can order it at: