M. A. Richards received a BA from Con­necti­cut Col­lege and an MA in Eng­lish from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts. Dur­ing a career as a cul­tur­al attach� for the Depart­ment of State span­ning more than two decades, he served in Bagh­dad, Jerusalem, Lagos, Moscow, Seoul, Tel Aviv, and at US Pacif­ic Com­mand as the Spe­cial Advi­sor to the Commander.