Gus Lee

Last updated
Gus Lee
Gus Lee (author).png
Born
Augustus Samuel Mein-Sun Lee

(1946-08-08) August 8, 1946 (age 77)
Education University of California, Davis (BA, JD)
Occupation(s)Lawyer, Writer
SpouseDiane Elliott
Military Service
AllegianceUnited States
Service/branch United States Army
Years of service1977-1980
Rank Captain
Unit J.A.G. Corps

Augustus Samuel Mein-Sun "Gus" Lee [1] (born August 8, 1946) [2] [3] is an American author and ethicist. He was born in San Francisco, a place he recounts in his childhood memoir/novel China Boy (1991) about growing up in a broken, poverty-stricken immigrant family in an inner city ghetto. [4]

Contents

Lee attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, did graduate study in East Asian History with Liu Kwangching and obtained a J.D. degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law (King Hall). While a graduate and law student at Davis, Lee served as an Assistant Dean of Students for the Educational Opportunity Program, project coordinator for Asian American Studies and ROTC Brigade Commander. He was an Army boxer, Army drill sergeant, paratrooper, Command Judge Advocate, U.S. Senate ethics investigator and legal adviser to the worldwide Connelly Investigation [5] with tours in Asia. He became a multiple-event whistle blower, which involuntarily launched him into his work as an ethicist and character-based leadership consultant.

Lee worked as supervising deputy district attorney, acting deputy attorney general, FBI and law enforcement trainer, Deputy Director of the California District Attorneys Association. He was an adjunct leadership instructor at USC.

Lee recounts his life in autobiographical fiction. A challenging childhood in San Francisco's Panhandle is the subject of his book China Boy (1991), which became San Francisco's first One City One Book selection and a Colorado Springs' Pikes Peak Reads selection. Honor and Duty (1994) describes the tension between integrity, friendship and fidelity in an autobiographical tale about West Point. Tiger's Tail (1996) recounts Lee's role as an Army criminal investigator pursuing enemy secret agents, man-carried atomic devices and shaman prophets on the Korean DMZ. No Physical Evidence (2000) is a legal thriller that recounts a difficult trial as a deputy DA, involving a vulnerable teenage victim and a sociopathic child abuser, and recounts the simultaneous loss of their first daughter. Lee followed with a memoir, Chasing Hepburn (2004), in which his mother and three young sisters conduct a harrowing flight from wartime China to America. His 2007 book Courage: The Backbone of Leadership describes the measurable behaviors of integrity and courage. He has contributed to anthologies, written for Time and Encyclopædia Britannica and written op-eds. The death of his West Point mentor, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf caused him to write With Schwarzkopf: Life Lessons of the Bear (2015), which recalls their relationship.

Bibliography

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Schwarzkopf Jr.</span> United States Army general (1934–2012)

Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. was a United States Army general. While serving as the commander of United States Central Command, he led all coalition forces in the Gulf War against Ba'athist Iraq.

Laurence Michael Yep is an American writer. He is known for his children's books, having won the Newbery Honor twice for his Golden Mountain series. In 2005, he received the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his career contribution to American children's literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willie Brown (politician)</span> American politician (born 1934)

Willie Lewis Brown Jr. is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as mayor of San Francisco from 1996 to 2004, the first African American to hold that office.

<i>The Killer Angels</i> 1974 novel by Michael Shaara

The Killer Angels is a 1974 historical novel by Michael Shaara that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1975. The book depicts the three days of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War, and the days leading up to it: June 29, 1863, as the troops of both the Union and the Confederacy move into battle around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and July 1, July 2, and July 3, when the battle was fought. The story is character-driven and told from the perspective of various historical figures from both the Confederacy and the Union. A film adaptation of the novel, titled Gettysburg, was released in 1993.

An autobiographical comic is an autobiography in the form of comic books or comic strips. The form first became popular in the underground comix movement and has since become more widespread. It is currently most popular in Canadian, American and French comics; all artists listed below are from the U.S. unless otherwise specified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimberly Guilfoyle</span> American political figure (born 1969)

Kimberly Ann Guilfoyle is an American television news personality and former prosecutor in San Francisco and Los Angeles. She served as an advisor and led the fundraising division of Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William R. Peers</span> United States Army general

William Ray Peers was a United States Army general, who is most notable for presiding over the Peers Commission investigation into the Mỹ Lai massacre during the Vietnam War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard E. Kim</span> Korean American novelist (1932–2009)

Richard Eun Kook Kim (1932–2009) was a Korean–American writer and professor of literature. He was the author of The Martyred (1964), The Innocent (1968), and Lost Names (1970), and many other works. He was a Guggenheim Fellow (1966) and was a recipient of a Fulbright grant. His most popular work is Lost Names, a fictional work based on his experience during the Japanese colonization of Korea.

Courage is the ability to confront fear in the face of pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Adachi</span> American civil rights lawyer (1959–2019)

Jeffrey Gordon Adachi was an American attorney, pension reform advocate, and politician who served as the Public Defender of San Francisco from 2003 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bienvenido Santos</span> American novelist

Bienvenido Nuqui Santos was a Filipino-American fiction, poetry and nonfiction writer. He was born and raised in Tondo, Manila. His family roots are originally from Lubao, Pampanga, Philippines. He lived in the United States for many years where he is widely credited as a pioneering Asian-American writer.

<i>Outrageous Betrayal</i> Book by Steven Pressman

Outrageous Betrayal: The Dark Journey of Werner Erhard from est to Exile is a non-fiction book written by freelance journalist Steven Pressman and first published in 1993 by St. Martin's Press. The book gives an account of Werner Erhard's early life as Jack Rosenberg, his exploration of various forms of self-help techniques, and his foundation of Erhard Seminars Training "est" and later of Werner Erhard and Associates and of the est successor course, "The Forum". Pressman details the rapid financial success Erhard had with these companies, as well as controversies relating to litigation involving former participants in his courses. The work concludes by going over the impact of a March 3, 1991 60 Minutes broadcast on CBS where members of Erhard's family made allegations against him, and Erhard's decision to leave the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Hanlon</span>

Stuart Hanlon is an attorney based in San Francisco, California who represented San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr, Geronimo Pratt and members of the Symbionese Liberation Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow</span> Chinese-American criminal

Raymond Kwok-Cheung Chow, nicknamed "Shrimp Boy", is a Hong Kong-born felon with ties to a San Francisco Chinatown street gang and an organized crime syndicate, including the American branch of the Hong Kong-based triad Wo Hop To and the Hop Sing Boys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chol Soo Lee</span> Korean American exoneree

Chol Soo Lee was a Korean American immigrant who was wrongfully convicted for the 1973 murder of Yip Yee Tak, a San Francisco Chinatown gang leader, and sentenced to life in prison. While in prison, he was sentenced to death for the killing of another prisoner, Morrison Needham, though Chol Soo claimed self-defense. Chol Soo served ten years of his sentence for the killing of Yip Yee Tak, of which he was later acquitted, eight of those on death row. Investigative reporting by K. W. Lee sparked the formation of the Free Chol Soo Lee Defense Committee, which spurred a national pan-Asian movement. Chol Soo finally won his freedom in 1983 through the help of the Free Chol Soo Lee Defense Committee and Tony Serra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Lee</span> 43rd Mayor of San Francisco

Edwin Mah Lee was an American politician and attorney who served as the 43rd Mayor of San Francisco from 2011 until his death in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Chew-Een Lee</span> United States Marine Corps officer (1926–2014)

Kurt Chew-Een Lee (Chinese: 呂超然; pinyin: Lǚ Chāorán was the first Asian American to be commissioned as a regular officer in the United States Marine Corps. Lee earned the Navy Cross under fire in Korea in September 1950, serving in the 1st Battalion 7th Marines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 San Francisco District Attorney recall election</span>

The 2022 San Francisco District Attorney recall election was a successful special recall election to remove San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin from office. It was held on June 7, 2022, concurrent with the 2022 statewide primary elections.

References

  1. Asian American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook . Greenwood Publishing Group. March 2000. ISBN   9780313309113.
  2. Asian American Novelists: A Bio-bibliographical Critical Sourcebook, page 185
  3. California Birth Index
  4. Guthmann , Chronicle Staff Writer, Edward (September 26, 2005). "Gus Lee mined his isolated boyhood for a novel about the city he loves -- now it's a book club pick". The San Francisco Gate. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  5. Drogan, Bob. "Army Investigating Allegations of Recruiting Fraud in 5 States". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 29, 2019.