Some Far and Distant Place [Paperback]

JONATHAN S. ADDLETON was born in Murree, Pakistan. He has a B.S. from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. from Tufts University. Currently Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission to Mongolia, he has also worked as a USAID officer in Pakistan, Yemen, Jordan, South Africa, and Kazakstan.

Born in Pakistan to Baptist missionaries from rural Georgia, Jonathan S. Addleton crossed the borders of race, culture, class, and religion from an early age. Some Far and Distant Place combines family history, social observation, current events, and deeply personal commentary to tell an unusual coming-of-age story that has as much to do with the intersection of cultures as it does with one man's life.

Whether sharing ice cream with a young Benazir Bhutto or selling gospel tracts at the tomb of a Sufi saint, Addleton provides insightful and sometimes hilarious glimpses into the Muslim-Christian encounter through the eyes of a young child. His narrative is rooted in many unlikely sources, including a southern storytelling tradition, Urdu ghazal, revivalist hymnology, and the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. The natural beauty of the Himalayas also leaves a strong and lasting mark, providing solidity in a confusing world that on occasion seems about to tilt out of control.

This clear-eyed, insightful memoir describes an experience that will become increasingly more common as cultures that once seemed remote and distant are no longer confined within the bounds of a single nation-state.

Splendid reminiscences . . . [Addleton's] memories project a deeply moving warmth and kindness.

Addleton does a fine job of recreating his childhood from a young boy's perspective.

A work to be remembered: its evocation of childhood, of a child's relation to space, is heartbreaking.

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