The Foreign Service Journal, November 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2013 29 Memoirs and Occasional Papers Series. The murder of the British vice consul on the very first day of Tinny’s initial assignment to the consulate in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, proved a grim portent for his chosen profession. After serving in Cairo, where Nile floods bring life and death, he moved on to Beirut. There he glimpsed hope in Palestinian refugee camps, witnessed the angry intensity of young Israelis, and came to realize that an intellectual understanding of the Arab-Israeli problem is not sufficient. Despite what he describes as a professional misstep in Aden, Tinny was appointed principal officer in Benghazi—not long before the consulate was bombed in 1964. A murder on his last day there brought him full circle. His career as a Foreign Service officer ended aboard an Italian tramp steamer, not on the Golden Road. John David Tinny served in Honduras, Egypt, Lebanon and Aden, accompanied by his wife Josephine and three sons. After leaving the Foreign Service in 1966, he worked for Occidental Petroleum and Conoco in the Persian Gulf and Africa. He later worked as a reference librarian until retiring in 2011. Joys and Perils of Living Abroad: Memoirs of a Foreign Service Family Diego and Nancy Asencio, Xlibris, 2013, $19.99, paperback, 264 pages. From Diego Asencio’s initial posting in 1957 until his retirement in 1986, the Foreign Service offered him, his wife Nancy and their five children fascinating les- sons about new cultures, people and places. Nancy and Diego tell their family’s story—all of it, both the joys and perils—with honesty and a great deal of humor in this new volume in the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training’s Memoirs and Occasional Papers Series. The Asencios contended with everything from constant second-guessing by beancounters back in Washington to truly life-threatening situations. The most notable of these was the ambassador’s 1980 kidnapping by a Colombian paramilitary ter- rorist group, the 19th of April Movement. He was one of a dozen diplomats M-19 held hostage in Bogota for 61 days. Diego Asencio served as U.S. ambassador to Colombia from 1977 to 1980, and ambassador to Brazil from 1983 to 1986, among many other Foreign Service postings over a 29-year career. Ambassador Asencio is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Council on Foreign Relations. Radio Free Europe: An Insider’s View James F. Brown, New Academia/Vellum, 2013, $22, paperback, 154 pages. In this book, posthumously published as part of the Association of Diplomatic Stud- ies and Training’s Memoirs and Occasional Papers Series, J.F. Brown describes the critical role Radio Free Europe played throughout the Cold War. A veteran RFE official who served as its director from 1978 to 1983, he offers a balanced and penetrating analysis of what made the broadcast- ing service tick. As he writes, RFE “broke the communist infor- mation monopoly and gave East Europeans the chance to think and judge for themselves.” Brown explains how RFE functioned as a decentralized organization that empowered exiles, and points out what it could—and could not—offer East European listeners. Living up to the title’s promise of “an insider’s view,” his book illuminates the editorial policies and internal relationships that made RFE such a success. His vivid portraits of key personalities illustrate the point that RFE was not just an institution, but a unique, multinational group of men and women who played a critical role throughout the Cold War. Brown’s insights are equally applicable to reaching present-day audiences similarly deprived of access to informa- tion. James F. Brown (1928-2009) spent 27 years at Radio Free Europe. As its director, he played a seminal, behind-the-scenes role in the rise of the Polish Solidarity movement. He is the author of The New Eastern Europe (Praeger, 1964), Surge to Freedom: The End of Communist Rule in Eastern Europe (Duke University, 1991), Hopes and Shadows: Eastern Europe after Communism (Duke, 1994) and three other books on Eastern Europe. Forever Traveling Home Regina D. Landor, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013, $9.99, paperback, 188 pages. Regina Landor invites the reader to join her in an adventure that moves from East- ern Europe to the United States, and back again. As a Peace Corps alumna and the wife of a USAID FSO, Landor has had her share of overseas experiences. Opening up about her personal struggles and the difficulties of coping with family and children during travels, Landor shares her