Jesus, My Father, The CIA, and Me: A Memoir. . . of Sorts [Paperback]

Ian Morgan Cron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 7, 2011

"When I first discovered the grainy picture in my mother's desk-me as a towheaded two year old sitting in what I remember was a salmon-orange-stained lifeboat-I was overwhelmed by the feeling that the boy in the boat was not waving and laughing at the person snapping the photo as much as he was frantically trying to get the attention of the man I am today. The boy was beckoning me to join him on a voyage through the harrowing straits of memory. He was gambling that if we survived the passage, we might discover an ocean where the past would become the wind at our back rather than a driving gale to the nose of our boat. This book is the record of that voyage."  

At the age of sixteen, Ian Morgan Cron was told by his mother that his father, a motion picture executive, also worked for the CIA in Europe. This astonishing revelation, coupled with his father's dark struggles with alcoholism, upended the world of a boy struggling to become a man. Decades later, as he faces his own personal demons, Ian realizes the only way to find peace is to voyage back through a childhood marked by extremes--privilege and hardship, violence and tenderness, truth and deceit--that he's spent years trying to forget. In this surprisingly funny and forgiving memoir, Ian reminds us that no matter how different the pieces may be, in the end we are all cut from the same cloth, stitched by faith into an exquisite quilt of grace.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

"Ian Morgan Cron writes with astonishing energy and freshness; his metaphors stick fast in the imagination. This is neither a simple memoir of hurt endured, nor a tidy story of reconciliation and resolution. It is - rather like Augustine's Confessions - a testimony to the unfinished business of grace."

- The Most Rev. Dr. Rowan Williams - The Archbishop of Canterbury

About the Author

Ian Morgan Cron is an Episcopal priest, speaker, retreat leader, and songwriter. He loves yoga, reading, the Rolling Stone's album Exile on Main Street, and complaining he has no spare time. Ian and his wife have three children, and a Portuguese Water Dog named Hobbes. They divide their year between homes in Vermont and Tennessee. His new book "Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me: A Memoir...Of Sorts" will be released by Thomas Nelson on June 7, 2011.

For speaking Inquiries:
 
Chaffee Management Group
[phone]
[e-mail]

Product Details

• Paperback: 257 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (June 7, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849946107
• ISBN-13: 978-0849946103
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (206 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,303 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ian Morgan Cron is an author, speaker, Episcopal priest, and retreat guide.

To introduce others to St. Francis of Assisi, he authored Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale. His literary debut received accolades from The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Brian McLaren, Fr Richard Rohr, Phyllis Tickle, Tony Campolo, Brennan Manning, and artist Makoto Fujimura.


Thomas Nelson released Ian's new book "Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me: A Memoir...Of Sorts" on June 7, 2011. Publishers Weekly praised it as, "Simultaneously redemptive and consoling with bright moments of humor...this story is chock-full of sacredness and hope. Cron is one of only a few spirituality authors who could articulate these themes as poignantly."

In addition to writing and speaking, Ian is an adjunct priest at Christ Church in Greenwich, Connecticut and a doctoral student at Fordham University (The Jesuit University in New York) where he is studying Christian spirituality.

Ian adores the Rolling Stone's record Exile on Main Street, and the melody to Lulu's 1967 hit song "To Sir, With Love" has been stuck in his head for more than thirty years. He can explain the former, but not the latter. He divides his time between homes in Tennessee and Vermont with his wife, three children, and his Portuguese Water Dog, Hobbes.

For more information, please visit www.iancron.com.

For Speaking: Chaffee Management Group
Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cron's Memoir Knocks You Socks Off, June 7, 2011

By 

Amy L. Maris - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jesus, My Father, The CIA, and Me: A Memoir. . . of Sorts (Paperback)

If you've read any of Cron's other books, this memoir will knock your socks off. If you haven't, then reading this will make you want to read more.
Having a dad who worked for the CIA without your knowing it is one thing, but having an alcoholic dad is another thing entirely. Cron issues a disclaimer at the beginning that hedges the expectation of the reader to hear the `truth' about his childhood. I don't think he needs this. There's enough detail here to make it totally believable, and poignantly so.
The life he led as a child is the stuff of black and white films. He recounts a childhood in Greenwich Village of both privilege and horror, and a gradual coming to faith despite a rigid immersion in parochial school, and a gripping drug addiction in adolescence, that continued to plague him in adulthood.
My mainstream evangelical self squirmed at his assertion that he actually heard the voice of Christ pleading for `forgiveness', but then, given Cron's unconventional way of expressing his faith, it fits.
I read this latest work of Cron's just the way I ingested the last one, "Chasing Francis". With zest. Cron is a gifted writer who knows how to salt the page with just enough hyperbole and a gentle touch of poetry.
I received this complimentary copy from Thomas Nelson Publishers in return for my honest opinion of the book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great Writing, Lost Me On The Content, September 30, 2011

By 

Kari Book Lover "KBL - Loving Books And Letti... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jesus, My Father, The CIA, and Me: A Memoir. . . of Sorts (Paperback)

Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me: A Memoir...Of Sorts by Ian Morgan Cron is a telling of the childhood of a young man whose father was in the CIA (though he didn't know until he was a teenager) and had a hard journey with alcoholism. This book takes us through his childhood, young teens, and into adult hood as he learns to cope with this knowledge, and as he works through a relationship with his father as a child.

It's a story of love, acceptance, and you feel he's speaking this story directly to you instead of just typing it on a page for anyone who comes along to read. However...

There were some parts I did not agree with. There was a point with "Miss Annie" of learning how God would humble Himself to seek the forgiveness of a young man whom He had "disappointed" in life. A PERFECT God seeking the forgiveness of a man not worthy of God's forgiveness (though He freely gives it) is completely unbiblical. It's all packaged in a "He would do it to make you OK" type situation. No, He wouldn't. He would heal you, but not by lying.

The story was interesting. The way it was written was a nice read. But there were things within the book that I could not get past (such at the example above).

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected., June 7, 2011

By 

M. Manes - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jesus, My Father, The CIA, and Me: A Memoir. . . of Sorts (Paperback)

The thing that really intrigued me about this book was the word CIA in the title. Before I began reading, I thought it was going to be a story about Ian and how he worked for the CIA, and how he was able to maintain being a Christian, while working for the CIA. And his struggle with killing someone, and questioning if it's right in God's eyes.

And I was completely wrong.

The book was focused more on Ian's childhood and living with his alcoholic father (who was in the CIA). Throughout the entire book, I continually saw the need that Ian had for his father to accept and love him, and how his father never gave it to him.

Although every part of me wanted to know that his father one day would show him the love he deserved and wanted, it just never happened.

One night at a revival, Ian heard a voice say to him, "Forgive me, Ian," which really confused him. He asked a couple people how it was possible that God could ask him for forgiveness. He couldn't get a straight answer, until he talked to Miss Annie. She told him about how God humbled Himself to become a man, and humbled Himself by dying on the cross for us. She then asked, "So why wouldn't Jesus humble himself and tell a boy he was sorry for letting him down if he knew it would heal his heart?" - Miss Annie

The book ended with a story of Ian and his three kids. You could tell that Ian was extremely interested in all of his kids lives, especially his 8 year old son, Aidan, and how he wasn't going to let his earthly dad dictate how he would treat his children, but instead would treat them the way his Heavenly Father would.

This book wasn't what I thought it was going to be, but it did make me appreciate the relationship I have with my father.

Ian is a great author and this book was an easy read. It's a great Sunday reader.