Ben East Books

Citizenship | Literature

Select novels, short stories, and nonfiction on contemporary life.

PROFILES IN SERVICE

What began as a bold experiment in grassroots service produced future ambassadors to help guide U.S. diplomacy through seven decades of global upheaval.

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Novels

Read, Listen, Watch

  • Profile: Peter Tomsen

    Peter Tomsen cut a path from the Peace Corps to an ambassadorship through jungle warfare in Vietnam, negotiating Peace Corps into China, and serving as Special Envoy to Afghanistan after Soviet withdrawal.View post to subscribe to the site’s newsletter.

  • Thoughts on a Departure

    An author and former diplomat contemplates familiar Washington haunts, including the Kennedy Center, after his last act in service: cancelling his passport

  • A Spy of the Egyptian Spies

    Not your typical Peace Corps-to-Foreign Service path, this rendering of an ambassador’s tale twists amid my own fascination with the era’s social influences.View post to subscribe to the site’s newsletter.

  • Profile: Franklin Pierce “Pancho” Huddle, Jr.

    Sketch profiling Ambassador Franklin Pierce “Pancho” Huddle, Jr. from a forthcoming nonfiction boook of profiles that explore Peace Corps roots in American diplomacy.View post to subscribe to the site’s newsletter.

  • Navratri: Celebrating Good over Evil

    Navratri celebrates the victory of good over evil. The Hindu goddess Durga defeats the demon Mahishasura during nine nights of epic war. Diwali begins 20 days later.

  • Phone Number Abuse Report

    Telephone service disruption is a nuisance, but customers who experience unauthorized changes can file an FCC Slam Report and hold their provider accountable.

  • Profile: Smooth Relationships

    In their gentle manner, the townspeople had gone along with the program but didn’t own it, just another good idea that would resolve itself or fade away. The experience taught Brown Schoonover to be a successful communicator by being a listener.

  • Joe McCarthy & Arthur Miller

    Joe McCarthy led a witch hunt that in turn led to required reading for all U.S. high school students: Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible.

  • Profile: Brenda Brown Schoonover

    As a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines, Brenda Brown Schoonover found people were interested in her views as an American, not as an African American.View post to subscribe to the site’s newsletter.

  • Cold War Peace Corps

    Ben East shares a story about Parker Borg, tapped by Ronald Regan to be U.S. Ambassador in Mali, the first Returned Peace Corps Volunteer in such a position

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