Rutgers Professor Has Book Published About Diplomatic Life in Spain

Rutgers University Professor Michael Aaron Rockland recently had an English version of his book "An American Diplomat in Franco Spain" published by Hansen Publishing Group.

Rockland is a professor of American studies at Rutgers, but in the 1960's, worked for the United States Diplomatic Service in Spain and Argentina.

"The book is about two cultures: our culture and Spanish culture," Rockland said, at a recent discussion of the book at Rutgers University.

Set in the mid to late 1960's, the book details Rockland's time as a cultural attache' in Madrid.

He meticulously recounts his adventures in that position, which included ending up at a party in the presence of both movie starlet Ava Gardner and famed Nazi soldier Otto Skorzeny, a day spent in the sole company of Martin Luther King Jr. two years before the civil rights leader's assassination, and his involvement in helping to mitigate 1966 nuclear disaster at Palomares.

"I wondered whether I would still be welcome at Spanish universities and in cultural circles around the country," Rockland wrote. "It would be difficult celebrating American culture in Spain when we had just dropped four hydrogen bombs on the country."

A Spanish version of the memoir was previously published in 2011 by the University of Valencia in Spain.

Rockland is the author of several published books, including the novel "Stones" and "Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike," the latter co-written with fellow Rutgers professor Angus Kress Gillespie.

He is currently working on another memoir entitled "Crazy Navy."

For more information on Rockland, visit www.michaelrockland.com.