Class News
Russell Sunshine '64 publishes his memoir of an international life
Russell Sunshine has published articles and books on professional topics, but his new book, Far & Away, is his initial venture in creative non-fiction.
A California native, Russell was the grandchild of immigrants on both sides of his family. From early childhood, he followed in those wandering footsteps. He made his first international voyage at the age of five, sailing through the Panama Canal on a Norwegian freighter bound for war-torn Europe. By adulthood, he was spending most years overseas, building a career as an independent policy advisor to international organizations and foreign governments. He worked in Tanzania on East African unity, in China on transfer of biomedical technology, in Laos on foreign-investment attraction, in the Central Asian Republics on democratic transition, and in Sri Lanka on peace-building.
His memoir captures highlights of an engaging life journey in a candid collection of 50 true tales. The author's first-person anecdotes span 40 years of travel, work, and residence abroad. Readers can turn back the clock and return with Russell to still-independent Sikkim, listen to him helping Chinese teams prepare for negotiations with multinational corporations, witness his Dushanbe conversation with a gulag survivor, and cross a scorched no man's land between civil war adversaries. Chasing barefoot over Parisian cobblestones to thwart an audacious heist of Colombian emeralds. Enjoying the tea-time hospitality of a Tibetan abbot, with a bird's-eye view of Kanchenjunga. Serving as confidential advisor to the Chinese Government team negotiating that country's largest public-health project. Halting a descent to a Sri Lankan beach just as the once-in-a-century tsunami slammed ashore. These ground-level insights bring close and alive his exotic encounters in remote destinations.
Repatriated and retired on California's Monterey peninsula, Russell shares a writing passion with his wife, mystery author Nancy Swing.
Here's a customer review from Amazon ...
"For those of us with a lifelong wanderlust and/or who see themselves as global citizens, deeply curious about diverse cultures, politics, and context for what is happening around the world today, Russell Sunshine offers fascinating, first-hand vignettes of his adventures in over 40 countries over the past 40 years. Trained as a lawyer, working in diverse capacities with governmental agencies and international organizations, often taking side trips and forging lifelong friendships, he gives unique insights via warmly personal stories.
"His core interests and work are in helping countries evolve (sometimes after conflict) and grow economically, especially via inter-country agreements and operations. He has worked in Florence (1963), Croatia (1967), Corfu (1967) ... New Dehli, Benares, Darjeeling and Sikkim ... Arusha … Beining (1990) … Dushanbe and Tajikistan … Nuku Hiva … Sri Lanka, Tangalle (2004), Amelia, Montecampano — and now back in the U.S., happily retired on California’s central coast. When I was done reading this candid, compelling series of stories I felt like I’d enjoyed a condensed mix of real-life stories that enabled me to discover so much about the people in the countries in which Sunshine served. Now I want to visit several of them."