Edgar A. Porter’s life has taken him across continents, ideologies, and eras of upheaval.

The second edition of his memoir, Calvin to Mao and Beyond, traces an extraordinary journey—from growing up in the American South during Jim Crow and the Vietnam War to becoming one of the first Americans invited by the Chinese government to live in China as it reopened to the West in the late 1970s.

Porter’s story is both personal and political. Raised as a Calvinist Presbyterian, he was shaped early by faith and tradition. But the turbulence of the 1960s drew him into anti-war and anti-racist student movements, and eventually into Communist organizations inspired by Mao Zedong’s revolutionary vision. His two years living in China during a pivotal historical moment would transform not only his worldview, but the course of his career.

The “and Beyond” of the title reflects a life that continued to evolve long after Mao—into decades of work as an international educator in China, Hawai‘i, Japan, and Austria. His reflections offer thoughtful insight for anyone who has wrestled with big ideas, sweeping ideologies, and the challenge of staying intellectually honest in changing times.