A Year At The Edge Of The Jungle [Paperback]

As a very junior US Information Service Officer, Fred Hunter is sent alone into tiny Coquilhatville in the remotest region of the strife-torn Congo. He has no diplomatic protections, no communications links. His job: set up an American Cultural Center. Very lonely at first, he establishes the center just as rebels threaten the country with collapse. When the rebellion turns anti-American, it gets very dangerous in Coq.
A YEAR AT THE EDGE OF THE JUNGLE tells the story of Fred s time there. It also examines the predicament of the young Belgian couple whose friendship rescues him from loneliness and hardship. They stand to lose everything they ve tried to build.
As the danger grows, USIS makes Coq a two-man post. The senior officer sent in detests the place. Fearful of the danger, he orders a premature evacuation, tainting American standing in Coq. Fred lobbies to return. The embassy sends him back, again alone.
A YEAR AT THE EDGE OF THE JUNGLE makes compelling reading about a young man serving as the American presence in a remote and hazardous part of the developing world.