Reflections on citizenship, democracy, literature, and contemporary American life. Serious book reviews, social satire, and comedy not for everyone.
Ben East’s nonfiction debut recounts how JFK’s bold experiment shaped diplomatic careers and influenced modern American diplomacy.
The figures highlighted here tracked looted antiquities after the invasion of Iraq, re-established diplomacy in Afghanistan after 9/11, and secured village infrastructure while war raged in Vietnam. As hostages in Iran, they maintained diplomatic discipline to bridge a volatile cultural divide. These are individuals of deep courage and conviction, whether integrating a southern U.S. high school or finding comfort in African village beliefs to cope with personal tragedy.
Read, Listen, Watch
-
The Peace Corps builds a diplomatic service steeped in cultural, linguistic, and technical skills useful for effective advocacy of U.S. interests abroad.
-
I’m grateful to the Fairfax County Public Library for adding Profiles in Service: Peace Corps Roots in American Diplomacy, their—our!—catalogue.
-
Shriver’s memoir offers lessons on the price of overconfidence in brute power abroad vs pragmatic idealism at home.
-
In this collection of superb essays Dan Whitman is both poet and musician. An artist, he reveals the truths we know in our heart but may fail to enunciate.
-
Meet Me in the Morning is a quintessentially Connecticut novel, a quintessentially Ellington novel, the protagonist a nobody from nowhere trapped in a post-UCONN limbo.
-
Profiles in Service: Peace Corps Roots in American Diplomacy is now available in seconds on your Kindle.
-
Mystery and adventure will keep readers turning the pages, and Theroux adds rich layers of historic detail, authenticity, and curiosity to the narrative.
-
They welcomed me for a chat about about the Peace Corps, life in the Foreign Service, and my recent book, Profiles in Service.
-
The past is glibly overwritten, the present maliciously falsified, and we must fight back with the truth by sharing our stories.
Ben East Books 