Archive - December 16, 2010

One of the unintended consequences of Peace Corps Volunteers is a library shelf of memoirs, novels, and poetry. Unlike travel writers who seek new lands to explore, and unlike anthropologists who find foreign societies puzzles to comprehend, Peace Corps Volunteers arrive, as we know, in-country with some hope that they can do some good. And many, when they come home, want to share their incomparable experiences and insights. Peace Corps writers who have written books based on their experience include, are certainly not limited to– Paul Theroux (Malawi) – My Secret History; George Packer (Togo) – A Village of Waiting; Mary-Ann Tirone Smith (Cameroon) – Lament for a Silver-Eyed Woman; Norm Rush (Botswana)-Whites; Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador)-Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle; P.F. Kluge (Micronesia) – The Edge of Paradise: America in Micronesia; Peter Hessler (China) – River Town; Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan) – Chasing the Sea; Maria Thomas (Ethiopia) – Come to Africa and Save Your Marriage; Charles . . .