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Book details
  • Genre:BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY
  • SubGenre:Historical
  • Language:English
  • Series title:Ordinary People Trilogy
  • Series Number:2
  • Pages:282
  • eBook ISBN:9781098387617
  • Paperback ISBN:9781098387600

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Elections

A Memoir of International Democracy Builders

by Lois Ann Nicolai

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Overview
Lois Ann Nicolai is the author of a three-book "Memoir Trilogy". This second book in her trilogy is ORDINARY PEOPLE, EXTRAORDINARY ELECTIONS; A MEMOIR OF INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACY BUILDING. It is the story of the fifteen years she spent traveling into ten developing European countries helping the OSCE/PAE create new democracies. It is an enjoyable and enlightening book for all ages to enjoy.
Description
Lois Ann Nicolai is the author of a three-book "Memoir Trilogy". This second book in her trilogy is ORDINARY PEOPLE, EXTRAORDINARY ELECTIONS; A MEMOIR OF INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACY BUILDING. It is the story of the fifteen years she spent traveling into developing European countries helping the OSCE/PAE create new democracies. It is an enjoyable and enlightening book for all ages to enjoy. The countries she spent two or three assignments in were Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Republic of Georgia and Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan. In her final chapter she invited five men and five women colleagues to each write an essay about one of the most interesting missions they participated in as election observers and registration officers. Their stories are amazing. It is the authors desire to succeed in inspiring high school officials to encourage their high school students to choose to read these three books, which are true accounts from 1988 through 2014. This was a very remarkable, historical era as communism ended and global democracies were evolving.
About the author
Lois Nicolai is a former teacher; Girl Scout Troop Organizer, Leader and Day Camp Director; Indiana State Champions ASA Girls Softball Coach; Detasseling Supervisor for Pioneer Seed Corn Fields; International Organizer/Supervisor of OSCE/PAE Democratic Elections in ten developing countries of Western Europe; Founder and Director of World Citizen Diplomats in Princeton, NJ which led to seven trips into former Soviet Republics during the fall of Communism through Perestroika and Glasnost; and wife for twenty-plus years. Today she is a widowed mother of six living her dream retirement years on the Jersey Seashore enjoying heart-warming visits with her six children, eighteen grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren. In her first of a three-part "Memoir Trilogy", ORDINARY PEOPLE, EXTRAORDINARY TIMES; A MEMOIR OF ONE CITIZEN ACTIVIST, that was released in October 2020, she recounts a traumatic turning point in her life that leads her into three years of soul-searching. The results casts her into a new realm of life on her 50th birthday. Lois's writing is an honest and engaging memoir for all age readers. This second book in her trilogy is ORDINARY PEOPLE, EXTRAORDINARY ELECTIONS; A MEMOIR OF INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACY BUILDING, the book you are about to read. It is the fifteen years she spent traveling into ten developing European countries helping the OSCE/PAE creating new democracies. She is now writing her final memoir in this trilogy, which is ORDINARY PEOPLE, EXTRAORDINARY TIMES; A MEMOIR OF WORLD CITIZEN DIPLOMATS. She tells about the Soviet-American Peace Walk in 1988 and the Bridges for Peace Exchange with Volgograd, Russia in 1989, plus many World Citizen adventures.

Book Reviews

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Lois
Readers Favorite - Reviewer K.C. Finn "Ordinary People, Extraordinary Elections: A Memoir of International Democracy Builders is a work of non-fiction in the memoir subgenre and serves as the second installment in the Ordinary People Trilogy. It is suitable for the general reading audience and was penned by author Lois Ann Nicolai. Set during the fall of communism and the immediate aftermath, the book recalls the author’s time working in former Soviet Bloc countries to establish democratically elected leadership. Including accounts from ten of the author's colleagues who participated in the process in various countries, the book gives an account of the rise of democracy in the late 20th century. This was one of the most fascinating books I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing for this site, covering in detail an aspect of 20th-century European history that often gets neglected despite its clear and important relevance to modern-day politics. The stories of the people of the former Soviet Bloc tentatively stepping out from the shadow of communism and toward their first democratic elections in a lifetime – and sometimes their first-ever – are beautifully told in this memoir which celebrates not just democracy but the people who participate in it. Lois Ann Nicolai’s first-hand accounting of the struggles and fears surrounding these changes across several nations is heartfelt but constantly underpinned by the factual setting. It manages to emphasize the emotional aspect of the regime change without ever straying into the brand of romanticism that would devalue Ordinary People, Extraordinary Elections as an important educational tool in the discussion about international politics and civics." Review Rating: 5 Stars K.C. Finn for Readers’ Favorite Read more