Frank Schaeffer

Frank Schaeffer is a best-selling author whose fiction, humor, and non-fiction have received international critical acclaim. The Los Angeles Times describes Schaeffer’s writing as, “A rich brew of cross-cultural comedy.” The British newspaper, the Guardian says, “funny and wonderfully observed.” The Times of London says, “Schaeffer describes both the pleasures and occasional torments of childhood with charm and humor.” He co-wrote AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America’s Upper Classes From Military Service – And How It Hurts Our Countryand How Free People Move Mountains: A Male Christian Conservative and A Female Jewish Liberal on a Quest For Common Purpose and Meaning, with former Clinton White House aid, Kathy Roth-Douquet.

Schaeffer has written for USA Today, the Washington Post, Reader’s Digest, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun, and many other publications on topics ranging from his critique of American right wing fundamentalism to his experience as a military parent and novelist.

Schaeffer and his writing have been featured on Oprah, C-SPAN, (Book TV) PBS's, The News Hour, Fox News, CNN, ABC’s Nightline with Ted Koppel, and 20/20. He has also been interviewed on just about every major talk radio show in the country and has been a commentator on both NPR’s All Things Considered and several times for The News Hour.

Schaeffer has written three critically acclaimed and commercially successful novels, translated into eight languages – Portofino, Zermatt, and Saving Grandma. He has also written four non-fiction books including Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story About Love and the United States Marine Corps (co-authored with his Marine son). His second book on the subject of his son’s service in the military was Faith of Our Sons: A Father’s Wartime Diary published in 2004. His book Voices From the Front: Letters Home From America’s Military Family was followed by AWOL.

In his forward to AWOL, retired General Tommy Franks says, “AWOL is powerful and compelling. It is sure to spark dialogue on issues of patriotism and service to our country. The book is both a love story and a hard-hitting account of military life.” Michael O’Hanlon, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution says, “For such a provocative and hard-hitting book, AWOL is also rather fair and balanced – and generally quite persuasive.” Former NBC anchor, Tom Brokaw, says, “AWOL is a powerful and timely account of those missing in action – the privileged class of America staying out of uniform and out of harm’s way.” Senator John McCain says, “Frank Schaeffer and Kathy Roth-Douquet have done our country a great service with the publication of their book AWOL. The authors, who watched with anxious hearts a son and a husband leave for war, discovered in that difficult experience a more genuine and wiser patriotism than they had known before. And now they call on their fellow citizens, for whom national service and sacrifice is an abstraction, to recognize that love of country is a more personal and consequential attachment than is popularly understood among many of the most fortunate Americans. I commend their wisdom and patriotism to all Americans as I honor their loved ones whose military service has entailed danger and sacrifice and has been a burden on the heart fearfully but proudly borne by their families.”

Schaeffer was born in Switzerland to the famous American evangelical theologian/evangelist Dr. Francis Schaeffer. Schaeffer was sent to British boarding schools from which he ran away at age 15. He then became an artist protégé. His first one-man show was in New York at the Frisch Gallery when he was 17. It was followed by successful shows in London and Geneva. Mrs. David Rockefeller bought the first painting sold at his New York show.

Schaeffer is a survivor of both polio and an evangelical/fundamentalist childhood, an acclaimed writer who overcame dyslexia, a home-schooled and self-taught documentary movie director, a feature film director and producer of four low budget Hollywood features, and a best-selling author of both fiction and nonfiction.

He is married to Genie. They have three children and two grandchildren. He and his family have lived in Switzerland, England, and South Africa and now reside near Boston.

AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Class from Military Service and How It Hurts Our Country