NEW MEMOIR LOOKS AT HOW AMERICAN TEACHER HANDLED LIFE, LOVE, AND LOSS IN RUSSIA Crazy People Like Us examines fundamental questions of living beyond the comfort zone Harold Campbell left his 25-year career as a daily newspaper reporter and editor in December 2010 to move to Russia to marry his fiancee, Nadya, and start a new life teaching English as a Foreign Language. Five and a half years later, which includes five months the couple taught English in India, Nadya died unexpectedly after surgery, and Campbell returned to the U.S. How Campbell handled the shock of his wife's death and the subsequent grief he underwent is one of the main themes of his memoir, Crazy People Like Us. Told from a Christian perspective, Crazy People Like Us is more than just a chronicle of an American English teacher's reactions to everyday life in Putin's Russia and his observations of Russian history and culture. Campbell uses the circumstances he experienced to examine such universal themes as reconciliation (both person to person and person to God), mutual respect between peoples of different cultures and faith in the middle of uncertainty. The book would be useful for anyone who has gone through the loss of a spouse or other family member or those who would like to see how God helps us when we venture out of our comfort zone, whether we cross an ocean or cross the street. Crazy People Like Us is Campbell's first book. Previously, he worked as a journalist at daily newspapers in Kansas and Nebraska, where he won a number of Associated Press and state press association awards. His freelance articles have also appeared in several Christian publications and historical journals. Currently, he lives in Cedartown, Georgia, and works as a writing and history tutor at Georgia Highlands College and an online English teacher. In addition, he teaches writing to elementary- and middle-school students as part of an afterschool ministry in Cedartown.
