Survival for Service: My Experiences as Governor General of Grenada

Paul Scoon

ISBN 10: 0333970640 / ISBN 13: 9780333970645

Published by Macmillan Caribbean, U.K., 2003

About this Item

Light foxing to page edges and inside back cover otherwise pages clean and binding sound. Memoir of the Grenadian Governor General who was in office during the ouster of Eric Gairy by the Maurice Bishop led New Jewel Movement, the subsequent implosion of the revolution and execution of Bishop and other cabinet ministers and its aftermath. Seller Inventory # 001088

Bibliographic Details

Title: Survival for Service: My Experiences as ...

Publisher: Macmillan Caribbean, U.K.

Publication Date: 2003

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Very Good

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

In 1978 when Sir Paul Scoon was appointed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to become the second Governor General of the small, peaceful and independent island of Grenada, there were few people outside the Caribbean who knew much more about the country and its 100,000 inhabitants than as a tourist destination and a major producer of nutmeg, mace and spices. No one could have foreseen that by the time Sir Paul Scoon resigned, he would have worked alongside six Heads of Governments and established an Interim Government in a lead up to elections. Nor could anyone have envisioned that this flourishing democracy with its growing economy would endure a coup d'etat; rule by a Revolutionary Military Council; the death in office of a serving Prime Minister; the execution of a former Prime Minister and 17 of his political supporters and the intervention of the United States under President Ronald Reagan into Grenada's affairs which brought the region to its most dangerous confrontation since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Two decades have passed since the American forces stormed Grenada's beaches and guarded the Governor General's Houses while he and his wife lay on the floor to avoid the hostile fire from members of the Grenadian Army rebels. This was a period of great danger, which Sir Paul Scoon recounts vividly in this story of a life dominated by service to his country and personal survival.

About the Author:

Sir Paul Scoon has had a long and distinguished career in public service. Following study in the UK and Canada he returned to his homeland to teach at the Grenada Boys' Secondary School. After rising to head Grenada's Civil Service, he became in 1973 the Deputy Director of the Commonwealth Foundation in London. He left in 1978 to become Governor General of Grenada. Since leaving office in 1992, he has served as Chairman of the Grenada Board of Tourism and is currently both a director of the Grenada Industrial Development Co-operation and Chairman of the local St. John Ambulance Association. Sir Paul is married to Esmai McNeilly and has three stepchildren.