34 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL During almost four decades in the Foreign Service, B. Lynn Pascoe served as ambassador to both Indonesia and Malaysia and worked in various positions dealing with China and the former Soviet Union. Attaché Case: Backstage at the Embassy Todd Pierce, New Texture, 2024, $14.95/paperback, e-book available, 268 pages. Every diplomat knows that the gap between the realities of diplomatic life and the way it is portrayed in the media is wide. But, at least according to Todd Pierce, the reality is often more interesting, and stranger than the fantasy. He wrote Attaché Case to demystify the inner workings of an embassy the way Anthony Bourdain demystified the restaurant kitchen. And, he explains: “I wanted the humor in there, along with my personality—specifically my ADHD, gaffe-prone, very gay personality.” This comic memoir is about American power and what it felt like to represent the U.S. as a working-level diplomat from the end of the Cold War through the first Trump administration. Todd Pierce joined the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) in 1992 and later transitioned to State. He served in Athens, Ankara, Tirana, Rangoon, Geneva, Accra, and Washington, D.C. After retiring in 2018, he now works as a college counselor based in Florida and Greece. Boundaries Borders Crossings: One Lesbian Life 2.0 Jill P. Strachan, Combray House, 2025, $20.00/paperback, e-book available, 227 pages. In Boundaries Borders Crossings, the author writes of her experiences as a lesbian, the shared realities of Third Culture Kids, and the enduring impact of a world perspective. She tackles themes of universal social concern and social change with passion and wit. Using archival letters and journals, she chronicles her early years as a Foreign Service child, coming out as lesbian in the 1970s, and coping with the AIDS crisis in the United States. Jill P. Strachan grew up overseas as the daughter of Foreign Service Officer D. Alan Strachan and Evelyn B. Strachan. The Strachans were posted to Athens (1947-1952), Lahore (19591962), and Cairo (1962-1965). She also visited her parents in Sri Lanka for extended periods from 1966 to 1968. Destined: A Story of Resilience and Beating the Odds Aminata Sy, Aminata Sy Enterprises, 2025, $21.99/paperback, e-book available, 216 pages. Could you create opportunity from adversity and transform your life? Perseverance, patience, generosity, resilience: Aminata Sy learned these values from her aunt while growing up in Dakar. Her childhood was riddled with broken bonds and poverty that threatened to derail her life. In Destined, Sy shares her journey, offering an intimate look at her life as a mother juggling school and work in pursuit of a rewarding career and a better life for her family. An immigrant with little education, Sy earned multiple degrees and became one of the few Senegalese Americans to serve as a U.S. diplomat. Narrated with humility and candor, Destined is intended as an inspirational memoir, reminding us that each challenge makes us stronger, each goal makes us wiser, and no dream is too far out of reach. Aminata Sy joined the Foreign Service in 2021 and has served in Brazil and Kenya. Embassy Kid: An American Foreign Service Family Memoir J.K. Amerson López, Westphalia Press, 2025, $18.22/paperback, e-book available, 324 pages. Embassy Kid offers a poignant, intimate look at what it means to grow up in the shadows of diplomacy. As the child of a U.S. Foreign Service officer, J.K. Amerson López navigated a world of cultural shifts, political upheavals, and personal identity struggles—all set against the backdrop of American embassies and international communities in Europe and Latin America during the Cold War. Through vivid storytelling and candid reflections, the book
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