What do you think?
Rate this book
On the Edge
John Graham shipped out on a freighter when he was sixteen, took part in the first (and only) ascent of Mt. McKinley’s North Wall at twenty, and hitchhiked around the world at twenty-two, covering every war he found along the way as a stringer for the Boston Globe. A Foreign Service Officer for fifteen years, he was in the middle of the revolution in Libya and the war in Vietnam.
To the young Graham, adventure was everything, and each brush with death only pushed him to up the ante—and to bury ever deeper the emotional life needed to make him whole.
Then it changed, sometimes slowly, sometimes dramatically, including during one tragic night at the height of a battle in Vietnam. Over the last quarter century, Graham has been actively involved in peace-building initiatives all over the world. He’s helped end apartheid in South Africa, avert a major strike in Canada, save what’s left of the Everglades, settle a war in the Sudan and find long-term environmental solutions in the Pacific Northwest. Over the last few years he’s been working with several international organizations to build bridges between the Muslim world and the West. His articles on current events appear in major publications and on the Internet.
To the young Graham, adventure was everything, and each brush with death only pushed him to up the ante—and to bury ever deeper the emotional life needed to make him whole.
Then it changed, sometimes slowly, sometimes dramatically, including during one tragic night at the height of a battle in Vietnam. Over the last quarter century, Graham has been actively involved in peace-building initiatives all over the world. He’s helped end apartheid in South Africa, avert a major strike in Canada, save what’s left of the Everglades, settle a war in the Sudan and find long-term environmental solutions in the Pacific Northwest. Over the last few years he’s been working with several international organizations to build bridges between the Muslim world and the West. His articles on current events appear in major publications and on the Internet.
303 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 9, 2014
3 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
John Graham
5 books5 followersJohn Graham shipped out on a freighter when he was sixteen, took part in the first ascent of Mt. McKinley’s North Wall at twenty, and hitchhiked around the world at twenty-two.
A Foreign Service Officer for fifteen years, he was in the middle of the revolution in Libya and the war in Vietnam. For three years in the mid-seventies, he was a member of NATO’s top-secret Nuclear Planning Group, then served as a foreign policy advisor to Senator John Glenn. As an assistant to Ambassador Andrew Young at the United Nations, he was deeply involved in U.S. initiatives in Southern Africa, South Asia and Cuba.
By most measures, he was very successful. But something was missing.
In 1980, a close brush with death aboard a burning cruise ship in the North Pacific forced him to a deeper search for meaning in his life. Now out of the Foreign Service, he began teaching better ways of handling challenge and conflict. Since 1983 he’s been a leader of the Giraffe Heroes Project, an international organization moving people to stick their necks out for the common good. The Project finds ordinary people acting with extraordinary courage on a broad range of important issues—then tells their stories to millions of others through the media, and in schools.
Graham is a familiar keynote speaker on themes of leadership, courage, meaning and service. He also leads Giraffe Heroes Project workshops, helping organizations, businesses and individuals handle their challenges more effectively.
Graham has done TV and radio all over the world and articles about him have appeared in major magazines and newspapers. He is the author of Outdoor Leadership, It’s Up to Us (a mentoring book for teens), and Stick Your Neck Out—A Street-smart Guide to Creating Change in Your Community and Beyond. He walks his talk, including today as an international peacemaker, active in the Middle East and Africa.
He has a degree in geology from Harvard and one in engineering from Stanford, neither of which he ever expects to use.
A Foreign Service Officer for fifteen years, he was in the middle of the revolution in Libya and the war in Vietnam. For three years in the mid-seventies, he was a member of NATO’s top-secret Nuclear Planning Group, then served as a foreign policy advisor to Senator John Glenn. As an assistant to Ambassador Andrew Young at the United Nations, he was deeply involved in U.S. initiatives in Southern Africa, South Asia and Cuba.
By most measures, he was very successful. But something was missing.
In 1980, a close brush with death aboard a burning cruise ship in the North Pacific forced him to a deeper search for meaning in his life. Now out of the Foreign Service, he began teaching better ways of handling challenge and conflict. Since 1983 he’s been a leader of the Giraffe Heroes Project, an international organization moving people to stick their necks out for the common good. The Project finds ordinary people acting with extraordinary courage on a broad range of important issues—then tells their stories to millions of others through the media, and in schools.
Graham is a familiar keynote speaker on themes of leadership, courage, meaning and service. He also leads Giraffe Heroes Project workshops, helping organizations, businesses and individuals handle their challenges more effectively.
Graham has done TV and radio all over the world and articles about him have appeared in major magazines and newspapers. He is the author of Outdoor Leadership, It’s Up to Us (a mentoring book for teens), and Stick Your Neck Out—A Street-smart Guide to Creating Change in Your Community and Beyond. He walks his talk, including today as an international peacemaker, active in the Middle East and Africa.
He has a degree in geology from Harvard and one in engineering from Stanford, neither of which he ever expects to use.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 17, 2015
John Graham chose dangerous and exotic adventures from early in his life. He thrived on risk and learned early on that he seemed to be living a charmed life - coming out unscathed in situations that could easily have killed him. This drive, and a sense that he might have a destiny, led him to the Foreign Service and to centers of the historical events of my lifetime: the evacuation of Vietnam, work in Kissinger's office, planning for certain aspects of nuclear war, to name a few.
The first half of the book is filled with these activities, and the interest for me was in reconciling the person in the book with the person I knew, briefly, on Whidbey Island in the 1990s. That man was intelligent, gracious, had a twinkle in his eye, and was capable of creating the best eggnog I've ever tasted. I knew that he enjoyed mountain climbing but I did not realize that one of his earliest climbs, with other climbers from Harvard, has never been repeated. I had no idea about any of the rest of his life.
The rest of his life really took off just past half-way through book, and for me at that point the book went from being fairly interesting to being gripping. The last half of the book had me on the edge of my chair much of the time.
How John Graham moved internally from his attitudes in his youth and in Vietnam to his desire to work - at the U.N. on Jimmy Carter's U.S. Mission under Andrew Young - with Third World countries makes for surprisingly powerful reading.
And finally, his giving up of all that center-of-the-world politics to work for a better world through a small non-profit organization is tied in a most interesting way with his finding of his own center.
The first half of the book is filled with these activities, and the interest for me was in reconciling the person in the book with the person I knew, briefly, on Whidbey Island in the 1990s. That man was intelligent, gracious, had a twinkle in his eye, and was capable of creating the best eggnog I've ever tasted. I knew that he enjoyed mountain climbing but I did not realize that one of his earliest climbs, with other climbers from Harvard, has never been repeated. I had no idea about any of the rest of his life.
The rest of his life really took off just past half-way through book, and for me at that point the book went from being fairly interesting to being gripping. The last half of the book had me on the edge of my chair much of the time.
How John Graham moved internally from his attitudes in his youth and in Vietnam to his desire to work - at the U.N. on Jimmy Carter's U.S. Mission under Andrew Young - with Third World countries makes for surprisingly powerful reading.
And finally, his giving up of all that center-of-the-world politics to work for a better world through a small non-profit organization is tied in a most interesting way with his finding of his own center.
August 31, 2023
Graham's memoir recounts a fascinating life of death-defying adventure. Any one chapter would be a singular highlight of a normal person's autobiography.
November 1, 2014
This was a selection for a book group. John Graham had many opportunities for education and adventure. He is a good writer, and over the years has gained a lot of insight into the ways his early years influenced the choices he made. I appreciated his discussions about his attitudes towards the Roman Catholic Church. It helps me understand some friends who had similar negative experiences. I have a hard time relating to his very privileged yet emotionally crippled life, but credit him with finally getting his act together and living a decent other centered life.
February 27, 2015
A vivid witness
John Graham's candid autobiography bears testimony to what can be achieved by a seeker who honors his personal values and listens to the spiritual leadings his life serves up. I perceive in his personal experiences the mystical process by which we find high purpose and meaning -- spiritual fulfillment -- as we live life.
Many of his insights resonate with my own. Quakers speak of "minding the Light" and clearly Graham has been doing just that. I thank him revealing his inner journey and for putting his story into print.
John Graham's candid autobiography bears testimony to what can be achieved by a seeker who honors his personal values and listens to the spiritual leadings his life serves up. I perceive in his personal experiences the mystical process by which we find high purpose and meaning -- spiritual fulfillment -- as we live life.
Many of his insights resonate with my own. Quakers speak of "minding the Light" and clearly Graham has been doing just that. I thank him revealing his inner journey and for putting his story into print.
Want to read
February 25, 2016kindle 303
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews