I just clicked on the last page of Encounters: A Lifetime of Crossing Cultural Frontiers. My eyes are still teary from reading the tribute from the author’s son to both of his parents at his father’s memorial!

It was a delight to get to know three generations of such an interesting
family through those elegantly written pages. The seamless flow of the
narrative through Nancy Keeney Forster’s memories interwoven with her husband’s and others’ documents produced such a vivid tale that I felt transported with them in their peregrinations and adventures.

This book is clearly a “labor of love” in the literal sense of the word (Nancy wrote it after her husband’s Cliff accidental death), and a “tour de force” in its outcome, offering a personal account of important historical events and pertinent reflections on their current relevance. I also deeply appreciated the ubiquitous moral underpinnings. Encounters could be used equally effectively in a 20th century history class, a literature or a deontology course, but above all it is a delightful read!

—Anne-Marie Pierce

Time: 3:00 PM

Location:
Book Passage
51 Tamal Vista Blvd
Corte Madera, California 94925

Map

Cost: Free
Location: City Hall-Council Chambers
420 Litho Street
Sausalito, California 94965

Map and directions here.

August 31st she will be meeting east of San Francisco with women who formerly lived in Tokyo.

The next day, September 1st, she will speak at the Saratoga Library, south of San Francisco.

October 25th she will do a reading for the East Bay Stanford Women’s Association in Lafayette.

Another library reading is scheduled for November 15th in Sausalito, and December 11th she will be one of a group of Marin County writers featured at Book Passage (a beloved independent bookstore) in Corte Madera.

ENCOUNTERS – A Lifetime Spent Crossing Cultural Frontiers by Nancy Keeney Forster. I could hardly put this book down not only because I could personally relate to so much in it but because of its value (it should be in) the hands of every official in Washington, D.C., every diplomat we send out, and every child old enough to be studying world history. Maybe Nancy didn’t intend this to be a love story but it is just that in so many ways…between a husband and wife and their love for all mankind. She has so skillfully taken notes left by Cliff, her husband, including internment as a child by the Japanese in the Philippines during WWII, and woven them into their many diplomatic assignments together in the world. I put this book in the same class as MANDELA’S WAY and Mortenson’s THREE CUPS OF TEA. It’s a must read for all peace lovers and problem solvers. It gave me a whole new spin on “war criminals.”