ISBN: 0-88739-328-4
400 pp.
Size: 6 x 9
Pub Date: 2/2002
Paperback Original
Price: $19.50
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From Venezuela With Love
Edwin Drechsel
In 1937, journalist Edwin Dreschel was a recent MBA graduate working in industrial relations for Stanford Oil Company in Venezuela. In From Venezuela with Love Dreschel weaves together the story of his years there-of learning Spanish and acclimation, new friendships, his rise in the company-with a chronicle of Venezuelan and oil industry history.
At a time when American businessmen working in Latin America rarely bothered to learn about the local culture and history or make friends outside their expatriate communities, Dreschel immersed himself in his new home. From Venezuela with Love is at once the story of a man's growing affection and respect for his temporary home, a professional coming-of-age story, and a fascinating portrait of Venezuela and the oil industry in the late thirties and forties.
"We saw more beautiful girls in an hour than one will see in New York in a month. They are all of a dark, sunburnt complexion, perfectly smooth skin, lovely dark hair, and very clear eyes that look directly into yours. But getting to know them and taking them out is another matter. To invite them one has to take along mothers, younger sisters, brothers, and even aunts. Having to talk to them all and be courteous, especially at a dance, makes things difficult. If one invites a girl several times in a row one is considered bent on marriage....
Girls with office positions are about the only ones one can take out without having a tribe of relatives tag along. Men in contrast, feel free to do and go wherever they want, mostly to bars to drink and smoke and talk big. That's why the protected young women look longingly out through the bars at the world going by, wishing they were in it instead of just of it."
Bio: EDWIN DRECHSEL was a foreign correspondent for United States News and U.S. News and World Report for nearly forty years. Born in Breman, Germany, he was raised in the U.S. and currently lives in Berkeley, California.
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