The Foreign Service Journal, November 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2022 37 The couple later served in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Sudan, and the Philippines, and the author devotes a chapter to each location, along with chapters on life in Virginia from 1965 to 1967 and 1974 to 1978. The writing throughout calls to mind a personal diary rather than a book, but it is full of small details about Foreign Service life all those decades ago— from leaving calling cards for an ambassador’s wife, to adopting children in Taiwan, to coaching boys’ soccer in Fairfax, Virginia— making it an engaging read. Rae Bourquein’s husband, Bob Bourquein, served in the Foreign Service and at the World Bank. Rae Bourquein taught elementary school and held other interesting jobs overseas. The Bourqueins now live in Lakeland, Florida. Pacifist to Padre: The World War II Memoir of Chaplain Roland B. Gittelsohn, December 1941–January 1946 Edited by Donald M. Bishop, Marine Corps University Press, 2021, available (free) online: www.usmcu.edu , 376 pages. Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn was a remarkable figure for several reasons— his dedication to his faith, his dual identity as a pacifist and a World War II Navy chaplain, and his forthright manner of speaking and writing in all contexts. Donald Bishop presents Gittelsohn’s story and, with the help of historians and Navy experts, provides supporting remarks on his influence as a leader and, at times, activist. Pacifist to Padre not only documents Gittelsohn’s experiences; it also, as Bishop notes, “provides insight into the world of an unusual American space that has been naturalized as normal: of government- sponsored and managed religion. And it brings that world into focus from the vantage point of a man who never would have predicted pinning the Jewish chaplain’s tablet insignia to his collar.” Retired FSO Donald Bishop served as a public diplomacy officer for 31 years. His postings included Bangladesh, Nigeria, China, and Afghanistan. He also served as foreign policy adviser to the 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps, General James T. Conway. An Air Force veteran, Bishop served in Vietnam and Korea, and on the faculty of the U.S. Air Force Academy. Currently, he is the Donald Bren Chair of Strategic Communications at Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia. I Believe I Can Touch the Sky: Stories from my Life Charles Ray, Uhuru Press, 2022, $15.99/hardcover, e-book available, 186 pages. Ambassador (ret.) Charles Ray is back with a memoir he describes as “not stories of the author’s life, but from that life.” He writes of growing up impoverished in rural East Texas at a time of legal segregation, joining the Army a mere 13 years after it was integrated, and then joining the U.S. Foreign Service just two years after the Foreign Service Act of 1980 required it to diversify. Amb. Ray sets the story of his life as a Black man in the margins of a world always on the brink of change. He recounts vague memories of his childhood years, when he first “touched the sky” by designing a glider and jumping from a roof, destroying his mother’s best sheets in the process. He paints vivid pictures of a bygone era as he defends himself against bullies, slaughters animals on the family farm, and develops his interest in the outside world after discovering a National Geographic article about China. A prolific writer, Charles Ray is the author of numerous mysteries, law enforcement and Western series, and leadership books, including many additional titles published this year. He served for 20 years in the U.S. Army and 30 years in the Foreign Service, including as U.S. ambassador to Cambodia and Zimbabwe, before retiring in 2012. For more of Ray’s work, visit https://charlesray-author.com/. Unguarded Scottie Pippen, with Michael Arkush, Atria Books, 2021, $18.99/paperback, e-book available, 320 pages. Michael Arkush’s sixth New York Times bestseller follows basketball star Scottie Pippen’s journey from his upbringing in the small town of Hamburg, Arkansas, to NBA and Olympic legend. Co-written with Pippen, Unguarded reveals the many life obstacles Pippen has confronted, including family tragedy, disregard by collegiate basketball scouts, and even disrespect as he rose to fame with the Chicago Bulls. Kirkus calls it a “closely observed and uncommonly modest” memoir. Pippen shares his experience of growing up with 11 older siblings, as well as