Archive - November 29, 2011

War of Hearts and Minds: An American Memoir by James Jouppi (Thailand 1971–73) might not be the best Peace Corps memoir, but it certainly will rank as  the biggest, coming in at 618 pages, which includes a half dozen glossary pages on Thai terminology (for example: kiat — a small white frog considered very tasty by Northeast Thai villagers). Maps. Photographs. Plus a timeline! Jim Jouppi writes that his memoir “offers a compelling look into both the politics of Nixon-era America and that of staunchly anti-communist Thailand as it fought a shadow war adjoining the one that was raging in Vietnam and Laos, before projecting into the present and providing insights for new strategies in the future.” (It’s no wonder that this book is lengthy.) Jim self-published an earlier book with iUniverse, and then combined it with his next one. This new book tell the whole story of being a PCV civil engineer working with Thailand’s Community . . .