Born Under an Assumed Name

This title reveals the secret life of a covert ops family. It questions what it means to be an American on the global stage, from Asia to Europe to Washington, D.C. It offers a compelling coming of age tale in the Cold War era. From literary journalist Sara Mansfield Taber comes a deep and wondrous memoir of her exotic childhood as the daughter of a covert CIA agent. As Taber leads us on a tour through the countries to which her father is assigned, we track two parallel stories - those of young Sara and her intelligence officer father. While the Taber family criss crosses the globe, the girl and her father try to come to terms with their country and with themselves. Sara struggles for normalcy as the family is relocated to cities in North America, Europe, and Asia, and the constant upheaval eventually takes its toll. Only after a psychiatric hospitalization at age seventeen in a U.S. Air Force hospital that also treated shell-shocked Vietnam War veterans does she come to a clear sense of who she is. Meanwhile, Sara's sweet-natured, philosophical father becomes increasingly disillusioned with his work, his agency, and his country. This is the question at the heart of this complex, elegant work. What does it mean to be an American? Young Sara confronts generosity, greatness, and tragedy - all that America heaps on the world.