Awards

• Commended for Audies (Nonfiction) 2024

Overview

"""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. In A Refugee's American Dream, Oun shares hard memories of Cambodia, where his father was executed, and his family enslaved in labor camps. Following the fall of the Khmer Rouge, Oun survived a year of homelessness then nearly four years in refugee camps. Arriving in America, seventeen and penniless, Oun struggled, washing dishes at a Chinese restaurant for $3.15 an hour. Still, he persevered, graduating from Widener University and completing thousands of hours of training to pursue a career in the Secret Service. While on President Obama's protection team, he returns to Cambodia after thirty-two years, reunites with family, and bonds with Reik, the Secret Service dog he handles. Through his most difficult moments, Oun displays truly inspiring resilience that ultimately leads to great achievements."

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Author Information

"Leth Oun, a native of Cambodia who survived the Killing Fields, is a veteran United States 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 is a 1998 graduate of Widener University where he majored in sociology and minored in criminal justice. Before going to work for the federal government in 2000, he held numerous jobs that ranged from working as a bank teller to clerking at convenience stores to washing dishes for $3.15 an hour. He and his wife, Sophy, also a survivor of the Killing Fields, have been married since 1985 and have two grown children. Tim Lounibos is a longtime film/TV actor whose credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation, JAG, The West Wing, Bosch, and NCIS. Tim's voice has been described as rich, soothing, expressive, gritty, and honest. He loves bringing conflicted heroes, misunderstood characters, wise elders, and sinister antagonists to life. His favorite genres include fantasy/sci-fi, crime, mystery/thriller, YA, horror, self-help, and biography. When not acting, Tim enjoys playing board games, solving escape rooms, and laughing and hanging with family and friends. Joe Samuel Starnes has published three critically acclaimed novels, including Fall Line in 2011, which was selected to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's ""Best of the South"" list. He has had journalism appear in various magazines, as well as essays, short stories, and poems in literary journals."

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