The Foreign Service Journal, November 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2013 31 memoir. Ruminations from the Minivan will take you on the trip of a lifetime. Alison Krupnick, a former State Department FSO, served in India, Thailand, Vietnam and Washington, D.C. Her writing has been published in the Harvard Review, Brain, Child, Seattle magazine, Crosscut , and various news and trade publications, literary journals and anthologies. She lives in Seattle, where she is the author of a blog, Slice of Mid-Life . From the Projects to the Palace: A Diplomat’s Unlikely Journey from the Bottom to the Top Johnny Young, Xlibris, 2013, $19.99, paperback, 255 pages. As its title implies, this new volume in the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training’s Diplomatic Oral History Series tells an American success story: the author’s rise from a life of poverty to the highest ranks of the U.S. Foreign Service. Readers will follow Young as he learns the value of hard work in escaping from adversity, fights to attain an education, meets the love of his life and becomes an accomplished diplomat. He goes on to promote and defend American interests on four conti- nents, and describes how he and his family dealt with the shared challenges and rewards of living and moving all over the world. A career Foreign Service officer from 1967 to 2004, Johnny Young was ambassador to Sierra Leone, Togo, Bahrain and Slovenia, among many other postings. He was so successful in those challenging assignments that he rose to the rank of career ambassador. After retiring from the Foreign Service in 2004, Ambassador Young became a private consultant, contractor and lecturer. He has been executive director of the Migration and Refugee Services Division of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops since 2007. FICTION & POETRY Red Army Red: Poems Jehanne Dubrow, TriQuarterly Books, 2012, $16.95, paperback, 84 pages. This collection of poems by Jehanne Dubrow draws on her expe- riences as a child of American Foreign Service officers growing up in the East Bloc during the Cold War. The poems combine coming-of-age themes that apply to both herself and the communist countries in which she lived. While the fall of the Iron Curtain has inspired a great deal of art and literature, Dubrow provides an original perspective as an American adolescent discovering herself in the midst of the revolutions that overthrew the Eastern European govern- ments. She also devotes a section of her book to poems about the laissez-faire culture in the West, giving contrast to the earlier sections. Dubrow’s diction and unique style give vivid—and often startling—perspectives on the two sides of the Cold War. Some of the poems in this collection are “Moscow Nights,” “Crossing the Vistula,” “At the American School of Warsaw” and “Our Free- Market Romance.” Jehanne Dubrow has published other poetry collections, including The Hardship Post (2009), From the Fever-World (2009) and Stateside (2010). Buffalo Soldier: Peacekeepers Charles Ray, CreateSpace, 2013, $9.95, paperback, 216 pages. The fourth installment of Charles Ray’s Buffalo Soldier series, Peacekeepers centers on Ben Carter and his Ninth U.S. Cavalry, which is sent to Maxwell, N.M., to settle disputes between two groups of local landowners. While Ben would rather be spending his time on the frontier defending against Indians and outlaws, he sticks to his mission and endures quite a share of twists and suspense. Throughout the ordeal, Ben and his men face the discrimina- tion of the white townspeople whom he is assigned to protect. They must also deal with a callow lieutenant who is assigned to lead the group, but has no field experience. And if that were not enough, Ben is caught between the rivalries of the feuding family leaders and mysterious forces working outside of view. All of these elements work in concert to keep the reader on edge right up to the surprising climax. A retired FSO and former ambassador to Cambodia and Zim- babwe, Charles Ray grew up in Texas and is a longtime student of American frontier history. In addition to the Buffalo Soldier series, he has written the Al Pennyback mystery series and many other works of fiction and nonfiction. Prior to joining the Foreign