Shahbandar

In the late 17th century, many adventurous young Westerners made a perilous journey to the Far East to make their fortunes. This narrative is primarily based on recorded historical events involving the main characters, including the Shahbandar (harbour master) Samuel White, his unwilling American assistant Francis Davenport, and the Greek cabin boy who rose to be Prime Minister in Siam, Constance Phaulkon. These events occurred before Europeans colonized most of Asia, so these adventurers were totally dependent on the reception received from their Asian hosts. The 17th century was a time of intense cross-cultural interactions which can provide insights into modern times when Asia is again on the ascendant. Author Bio: Terry Grenberg has spent half his adult life living in East Asia as a diplomat, university-level educator, independent scholar and adventure traveller. His personal journey of self-discovery through living and working in the vastly different Asian cultural environments of Thailand, China, India and Japan mirrors somewhat the journey three hundred years earlier of Francis Davenport, the main protagonist in Shahbandar. Greenberg continues to spend half of every year in East Asia doing research on the cultural interaction of the East and the West, a topic of growing importance in the shrinking world of the 21st century, and the return of Asia to its dominant role in world affairs