Don Petterson

After four years in the US Navy and six earning a BA and MA at UC Santa Barbara, Don Petterson joined the Foreign Service. He served in nine countries, all but one in Africa, and was ambassador to Somalia, Tanzania, and Sudan. He had a reputation as a trouble shooter, and in 1998 the State Department recalled him into the Foreign Service to take charge of the American embassy in Liberia, which had been under siege by Liberian security services. Now living with his wife in New Hampshire, he is the author of Inside Sudan, Revolution in Zanzibar, and Old Man on a Bicycle, which was published in June 2014. Following the publication of his first two books, after his return from Liberia he decided to make a solo bicycle ride across from NH to San Francisco. Old Man on a Bicycle is his account of what he saw and did on the journey along with observations about ways to realize a more enjoyable old age.