A Refugee's American Dream: A Conversation with the Authors

Join us for a conversation with authors Leth Oun and Joe Samuel Starnes about their new publication A Refugee's American Dream: From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to the U.S. Secret Service, published by Temple University Press.

About the book:

“I saw many killed. I almost starved. But I escaped to refugee camps in Thailand and eventually made it to the U.S.” Thus begins Leth Oun’s poignant and vivid memoir. A survivor of the Cambodian Killing Fields—having spent a torturous three years, eight months, and ten days imprisoned by the Khmer Rouge—Oun thrived in America, learning English, becoming a citizen, and working as an officer in the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division. 

Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing after the program. 

About the authors:

Leth Oun, a native of Cambodia who survived the Killing Fields, is a veteran U.S. Secret Service officer. He has protected presidents and vice presidents in four administrations in forty-nine states and more than a dozen countries. A political refugee who immigrated to Maryland in 1983, he became an American citizen in 1990. He and his wife, Sophy, also a survivor of the Killing Fields, have been married since 1985 and have two grown children. 

Joe Samuel Starnes is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Calling, Fall Line, and Red Dirt: A Tennis Novel. His journalism has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Boston Globe, and various magazines. He has published essays, short stories, and poems in various literary journals. He holds an MFA in creative nonfiction. 

The event will also be live streamed via Zoom Webinar, for those who are unable to attend or prefer a virtual format. Access the live stream here: https://temple.zoom.us/j/99045605581

Our programs are geared toward a general audience and are open to all, including Temple students, faculty, staff, alumni, neighbors, and friends. Registration is encouraged.