Sutherland

September 19th, 2001
PSYCHOLOGICAL & SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF CAPTIVITY
Tom Sutherland, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Animal Sciences, Colorado State University, Islamic Jihad Hostage in Lebanon, 1983-1989; coauthor: At Your Own Risk (Fulcrum Press)

Interface Host: Stan Adamson

In 1983 Tom Sutherland, a professor at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, accepted the position of Dean of Faculty of Agriculture and Food Science at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. Two years later, on June 9, 1985, he was kidnapped by gunmen from the Islamic Jihad. That day would be the first of 2,354-- nearly six and a half years of captivity--the second longest period of any western hostage in Lebanon. During the time he was confined, his wife, Jean, continued to teach in Beirut--later learning that one of her students had guarded her husband in a secret location during that time.

Tom made the news recently when he won a judgment against the government of Iran, and was offered an arrangement with the United States State Department in which he and his family will be awarded nearly $58 million, in exchange for transferring the judgment to the U.S. government. He has announced plans to benefit a number of charitable causes through a foundation.

Dr. Sutherland's talk to Interface will focus on the spiritual aspects of captivity--the effect of long confinement and isolation on faith and the human spirit.

"At Your Own Risk : An American Chronicle of Crisis and Captivity in the Middle East"
by Tom Sutherland, Jean Sutherland

From the publisher, [email protected] , April 16, 1999
A riveting and inspirational story!
In 1983, Tom Sutherland, a professor at Colorado State University, accepted the position of Dean of Faculty of Agriculture and Food Science at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. Two years later, he was kidnapped by gunmen from the Islamic Jihad. Tom spent nearly more than six years in captivity--the second longest period of any western hostage in Lebanon.

At Your Own Risk is the passionate chronicle of Tom and his wife Jean's remarkable experience in Lebanon before, during, and after the hostage years. Tom's story of captivity alternates with Jean's, who stayed in Beirut teaching and working for Tom's release. More than a hostage story, At Your Own Risk is a rare portrait of the Middle East that transcends the Sutherland's personal struggle to place a turbulent decade in the Middle East in perspective. This book reveals the love, commitment, and hope of a special couple whose faith in the future never wavered.