The Foreign Service Journal, November 2007

Bureau and then as director of the USAID mission in Islamabad. He retired in 1988, but returned to Washington yet again, in 1992, to help plan, launch and then serve as president of the Eurasia Foundation. Through this varied career, Staples describes the challenges and problems encountered in planning and managing information and cultural programs and over- seas development work. He sets the context precisely, and insightful observations add depth. A penultimate chapter suggests how we might reorder current foreign policy priorities more effectively. Foreign Service Family Harriet (Rita) Prince Parrish Youngquist and Eric V. Youngquist, Voyageur Publishing Co., Inc., 2007, $22.50, paperback, 347 pages. This is the story of Rita and Eric Youngquist’s first posting, to Thailand, and their subsequent return to Washington to prepare for the next assignment, to Finland. Youngquist explains that he titled the book Foreign Service Family because it describes how he and his wife and two children adjusted to living abroad, and also because being in the FS made them part of a much larger family, one made up of all those who have lived abroad in the Service. Much of the writing was done by the late Rita Young- quist. Excerpts from her let- ters to her parents, where she described in a direct and engaging style what life was like for her in Thailand in the mid-1950s, form the core of the book. Besides caring for her children, coping with a new and different culture and climate and enter- taining, she taught English at the American University Alumni Association, ran her own play school at home and started and supported a play-reading group. Eric Youngquist served in Bangkok from 1955 to 1957, first as vice consul, then as a commercial officer in the economic section, and later in the political sec- tion dealing with Southeast Asia Treaty Organization affairs. N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 31 Home Suite Home The next time you’re going to be in DC for an extended stay, make yourself at home at Georgetown Suites. With our discounted monthly rates and large, comfortable suites, you’ll feel right at home. Plus we’re near the State Department. Call today! Georgetown Suites the fun place to stay in DC 1-800-348-7203 www.georgetownsuites.com sales@georgetownsuites.com Continued on page 35