Citizenship | Literature
Select novels, short stories, and nonfiction on contemporary life.
What began as a bold experiment in grassroots service produced future ambassadors to help guide U.S. diplomacy through seven decades of global upheaval.
Read, Listen, Watch
-
Will Sing win a Golden Globe or other award this season? I hope so. The soundtrack brought out memories of David Bowie (Under Pressure), Leonard Cohen (Hallelujah), and George Michael. That, and its an inspiring story about overcoming obstacles to realize artistic passions. So even if on the surface the only thing your kids get…
-
The American Foreign Service Association filmed a few short clips featuring my reflections on Two Pumps for the Body Man, the inspiration behind the novel, and my thoughts on the writing process. It isn’t exactly Zack Galifianakis Between Two Ferns (more like Some Guy and Bamboo) but I hope viewers will enjoy it when it becomes available.…
-
Three weeks on the road–Johannesburg, Paris, London, Myesore, Bangalore, Dehradun, Delhi–and a week recuperating in my lonely Northern Virginia retreat bring an end to the old year and fresh perspective for the new one. Appreciate all the digital colleagues and partners in crime who made 2016 a special year. Looking forward to staying connected, supporting each other, and…
-
Speed-reading fans will rejoice in Ted Prokash’s latest gift to literature, Journey to the Center of the Dream. Pills, beer, and blow fuel this fast-paced account of a rock band’s tour of 30 cities in five weeks, but even more than the chemical enhancements and a whole lot of weed besides, this epic road trip book…
-
Remembering those we lost. Remembering those who survived. Remembering this awful day and its protracted aftermath. It’s the aftermath that sticks most. The long period that stretched through weeks when our broken mission pulled itself together again. We pulled ourselves up from piles of ash and dust; from the pulverized concrete and glass shattered by bullets fired…
-
The Books & News blog finds itself in good company, listed among many others at the American Foreign Service Association’s round up of Foreign Service Blogs. They got me looking around at the work being posted by other diplomats and colleagues overseas. Here’s a summary of the first few. Address: TBD Recounts the early steps in the foreign service…
-
Cheap.
-
The six year old appears bedside in the dark, wants to know if he can go downstairs and write. “I’ll get up and write with you.” He’s written a war story called The Attack of the Red Army. It’s three chapters long. In chapter one Sam and Jacob are enjoying the last bit of summer…
-
Thanksgiving. The most American day of the year. More American, perhaps, than the Fourth of July. Throw in a hyperbolically American venue—Texas stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys—and you’ve got Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (also now in theaters). For the heroes of Bravo squad, barnstorming the U.S. on a brief victory tour to rile up…
-
Top 10 list requiring no preface or introduction— 10. Bubba. She enabled him. He enabled her. Until they didn’t. 9. BO. The Affordable Care Act. Its moral necessity was lost on the selfish many. 8. Vlad. Great spook. Spooky guy. Data thief. Exposer of secrets. 7. Gowdy (hair!) & Chaffetz. Drawn out hearings to reveal nothing again…
Ben East Books 