Embassy Kid: An American Foreign Service Family Memoir

Caracas, 1958: A revolution sends a reviled dictator into exile, and Vice President Nixon is attacked by a murderous mob.

Rome, 1963: President Kennedy gets a rock star reception as he tours the Eternal City.

Bogotá, 1966: A Marine Security Guard discovers a bomb in an embassy office minutes before it is set to explode.

Madrid, 1972: Fire engulfs the family’s home. Post to post, languages morph, school systems change, and friends vanish into the past. Everyplace is home, but not for long. America, it turns out, is the most foreign post of all.

Embassy Kid: An American Foreign Service Family Memoir follows Robert and Nancy Amerson, a courageous couple from the American Heartland, and their two daughters as they carry out the mission of the US Information Agency to ＂win hearts and minds for democracy＂ in Latin America and Europe during the Cold War. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Foreign Service, Embassy Kid pays timely tribute to our diplomats and their families who sacrifice safety, security, and stability while representing America thousands of miles from home.

J.K. Amerson López, the oldest Amerson daughter, is the narrator of Embassy Kid, her publishing debut. López’s second memoir is Amsterdam Strong, the story of her near-fatal illness on a cruise, the remarkable Dutch doctors who saved her, and her miraculous return to full health. López lives in South Florida with her husband and their rescue Lab and therapy dog, Kumba.