Helen Rodman

This is one of my Little Free Library finds. I didn't know this book existed, but picked it up on a whim when I saw it. (My copy has an inscription to "our Brazilian born daughter" for Christmas 2006 when she was joining the FAS.)
The description (above) is pretty accurate. What it doesn't tell you is how funny it is, or what a window it is into foreign relations in the 50s-90s due to Ms. Rodman's excellent accounts (which I assume must be taken from very detailed diary entries for all the years and places). It reminds me a lot of the stories my family tells, a generation later, being stationed "on Post" in the Army or sent on accompanied tours on restricted access islands, traveling in the 60s and early 70s: seemingly a friendlier time, a more community-oriented time, a time when you meet your lifelong friends because you were randomly assigned to apartments next door to each other.
It is worth noting that, while always kind, the accounts of other cultures can be recalled in very Western-centric ways. And when she recalls meeting some of those American students who dropped out of college in the 60s and 70s amidst political upheaval, she doesn't understand the disillusionment they were experiencing and viewed it as them wasting a part of their lives. However, she also convinces at least one of them to write a letter home to his mother to let he know he's okay: Ms. Rodman is always compassionate.
She's also always game for adventure. Seemingly adaptable to anything, she writes with a voice that relishes adventure and seeing places and meeting people– and raising their young family in the same spirit of adventure.
I thought it particularly insightful in the introduction that this book is from a time when, "We did not question what had to be done. We simply assumed our roles." She goes on to say that the best biographies neither glorify the bad nor rationalize the good, wishing to emulate that quality.
Ms. Rodman succeeds beautifully. While definitely a product of its time, I found it an entertaining and educational read.… (més)