One Step Ahead

About the Book

About the Author

Lawrence A. Beery, Jr., born in Akron, Ohio, in 1914, was influenced by his nature studies at Scout Camp and received his Masters degree in Agricultural Sciences from Ohio State University in 1937.  He then landed his dream job with Goodyear Rubber Plantations in Sumatra, later went to work for the U.S.D.A., then USAID in Central and South America and Africa. 

Beery writes of a time after WWII when an individual could have a direct effect in many areas of the world.  In Sumatra, Brazil and Central America he worked with rubber, the single most important natural industrial commodity on which our modern transportation systems were built and continue to depend.  In Africa, after colonialism, the newly emerging nations requested training for their people and Beery, through USAID, assisted in preparing them for a role in the world economy.