Citizenship | Literature
Select novels, short stories, and nonfiction on contemporary life.
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
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Metrinko was cleaned up and brought to meet Tehran’s Friday prayer leader Ali Khamenei. In the room were a camera crew and the SFIL spokesperson, Niloufar Ebtekar
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Before enduring 444 days of captivity at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Michael Metrinko served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Turkey (1968-70) and Iran (1970-73).
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Afghan Finance Minister Ghani steeped Metrinko and Peace Corps Director Vasquez in nostalgia from his years learning English and basketball with PCVs in Kabul
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What Walter Kirn gets wrong about fascist protests: their cliches and tropes are all too easy to spot. Violence, racism, hate, tiki-torches, and insurrection.
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Limbert’s poise, broadcast in Iran and around the world, leveraged Khamenei’s own culture into a polite message discrediting those holding the Americans captive
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Even after 5 months as a hostage John Limbert retained his identity as a diplomat, engaging Iran’s future Supreme Leader in language and custom Khamenei couldn’t ignore
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An author and former diplomat reflects on his hometown, his earliest career failure, and how Peace Corps helped him overcome it to tell America’s story abroad
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A brief pivot from Peace Corps profiles to pressing matters of climate change and opinion journalism.
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Peace Corps Nepal in the 1960s could feel slow. Adapting to the boredom turned out to be good preparation for enduring 444 days of tedium as a hostage in Iran
Ben East Books 