At Your Own Risk: An American Chronicle of Crisis and Capitivity in the Middle East [Hardcover]

Tom Sutherland (Author), Jean Sutherland (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1985, Tom Sutherland, dean of agriculture at the American University of Beirut (and formerly a dean at Colorado State University), was seized by Islamic Jihad terrorists. His wife, Jean, a teacher and administrator at AUB, spent six and a half years working for his release, traveling back and forth from Beirut to Washington, meeting with Bush, Reagan, George Schultz and other politicians involved in the hostage crisis. In captivity, Tom shared tiny, dank spaces with an ever-shifting roster of fellow hostages, among them Terry Anderson and Terry Waite. Tormented by his captors, he kept his sanity through meditation, reading and conversation. Told in alternating chapters by Tom and Jean, and interspersed with diary excerpts, this vivid, harrowing account of their ordeal offers a close-up of Lebanon, a cauldron of Christian, Muslim and Druze clashes, Syrian incursions, Pan-Arabism and Palestinian refugee camps. After Tom's release in 1991, the Sutherlands returned to Colorado and Tom became a professional speaker.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

From 1984 to 1991, the Islamic Jihad held hostages in Lebanon, and most of the survivors have written books about their ordeal. Although their experiences were the same, their accounts differ in their perceptions. Sutherland and his wife give a detailed description of their lives during his six-and-a-half year captivity. As a family memoir, their book resembles Ann Kerr's Come with Me from Lebanon (LJ 10/1/94). In recounting the day-to-day existence of the prisoners, it resembles Lawrence Jenco's Bound To Forgive (LJ 6/15/95). Unlike those books, however, it shows little understanding of the political realities that compelled the captors to do wrong in order to call world attention to their plight. For large general collections only.?Louise Leonard, Univ. of Florida Libs., Gainesville
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing (February 20, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555912559
• ISBN-13: 978-1555912550
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,931,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful in understanding the ethnic complexity of Lebanon., June 27, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: At Your Own Risk: An American Chronicle of Crisis and Capitivity in the Middle East (Hardcover)

I was fortunate enough to hear Thomas Sutherland speak almost immediately after his release, and several times since. He has always been consistent in his praise for Terry Anderson, his acceptance of his internment as "his own risk," his lack of bitterness for 6.5 years away from family and his support for the people of Lebanon. The book genuinely reflects the man.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much more than a story of captivity..., June 19, 2005

By 

Larry A. Hollar "Author" (La Junta, CO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: At Your Own Risk: An American Chronicle of Crisis and Capitivity in the Middle East (Hardcover)

Without blowing his own horn, the author exposes how to be a good human being. The story is also captivating, but what is behind the story is the good part. Tom Sutherland is an amazing human being, to have undergone captivity at the hands of terrorists, yet come out of it a better person. Jean Sutherland's parts fill in the corners well, both write very well.