Escape Rope

On his first journey to Central Asia in 1994, the author realized how effectively he had been brainwashed—not only as a child, but even as an adult. His account of the Cold War documents this brainwashing, experienced first as a child growing up under capitalism and then later in life living among those who grew up under communism.

Through his lifetime work as a public health epidemiologist in Africa and Asia, the author presents how people really live and what they are truly like. While searching for the world's last remaining Smallpox, you'll meet three inspiring individuals in the remote savannah bush of southwestern Ethiopia, and experience nomad hospitality in the barren thornbush desert of Somalia. His journey in Tanzania challenges the West on just who is developing whom, while in Sierra Leone you'll witness everyday hardships that a leisure culture could never imagine.

In the Caucasus region you'll observe how those far removed view a US presidential election. In Palestine you'll witness the marginalized abused by the marginalized. ¡Apaga la luz! reveals genuine compassion in rural Mexico. Finally, as you revisit his homeland, you'll experience the author's most severe lifetime culture shock.