author
Lyle E. Brenneman
1934–2017
Best known as a co-author of the widely used Area Handbook for Romania, he spent much of his career studying countries in depth and helping shape international development work in Africa and Asia.
1 Audiobook
Area Handbook for Romania
by Eugene K. Keefe, Donald W. (Donald Wayne) Bernier, Lyle E. Brenneman, William Giloane, James M. Moore, Neda A. Walpole
About the author
Born in Scottsbluff County, Nebraska, in 1934, he spent part of his childhood in Colorado and later grew up in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. NCBA CLUSA reports that he studied at the University of Oregon and Northwest Christian University, earned a graduate degree at Butler University, completed a doctorate in international relations at American University, and also pursued linguistics and French studies in Brussels.
His professional life moved between education, research, and development. NCBA CLUSA says he worked in the mid-1960s as a teacher and school administrator in the Democratic Republic of Congo, then joined American University’s Foreign Area Studies division in Washington, D.C. He later became NCBA CLUSA’s regional director for Africa and helped establish rural development programs there, before also taking responsibility for programs in Asia and continuing as a consultant in Southeast Asia.
As an author, he is most clearly documented as one of the co-authors of Area Handbook for Romania, a reference work completed in 1972 and later made widely available through Project Gutenberg. He died on July 26, 2017, at his home in Washington, D.C.