Now that we've had three successive administrations name a female secretary of state, it doesn't seem like a big deal anymore. But Madeleine Albright was a novelty when she took the position in 1997, and how she used her gender to advantage is the subtext to her new book, Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box. The book launches next week together with an exhibition of pins at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.

Albright credits Saddam Hussein with the inspiration to use pins as a diplomatic tool after calling her a serpent when she was U.N. ambassador. She promptly donned a snake pin. When the Iraqi leader was put to death, she marked the occasion by wearing a serpent with a sword through it. Men have power ties, but Albright had her pins, and world leaders paid attention. To convey her dissatisfaction with the Russians on human rights, she wore three monkeys to symbolize "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." When the Russians were caught bugging the State Department she wasn't subtle: she wore a huge bug.

Her staff learned to read her pins. A mushroom pin meant aides shouldn't talk to the media; that diplomacy like mushrooms grows best in the dark. A practice that started as a lark became a useful icebreaker for Albright, and one that is affordable. Her pins are mostly costume jewelry. And she confesses that ever since a South Korean leader got in trouble commenting about the placement of her pins, she wears them higher to insure no one's gaze prompts a diplomatic incident.   

For a peek inside the former diplomat's jewelry box, check out our photo gallery. Read Eleanor Clift's Q&A with Madeleine Albright.