Archive - March 4, 2013

To order books whose titles are in blue from Amazon, click on the title or book cover — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance that will help support our annual writers’ awards. The Market Bowl (Ages 5–8, set in Cameroon) by Jim Averbeck (Cameroon 1990–94) Charlesbridge $16.95 (hardcover) 32 pages 2013 • Hard as Kerosene (Peace Corps novel) by Aaron Barlow (Togo 1988–90) Peace Corps Writers Book $9.95 (paperback), $1.99 (Kindle) 268 pages January 2013 • Strange Borderlands (Poems) by Ben Berman (Zimbabwe 1998-2000) Able Muse Press $18.95 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) 104 pages January 2013 • The Gringo: A Memoir by J. Grigsby Crawford (Ecuador 2009–11) Wild Elephant Press $15.95 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) 225 pages 2013 • Pit Stop in the Paris of Africa by Julie R. Dargis (Morocco 1984–87) Indie House Press $14.95 (paperback), $7.49 (Kindle) 258 pages 2013 • • Lure of . . .

Guatemala One:  A Journal of the First Peace Corps Project by George Gurney (1962–63) Self-Published $10.95 (paperback) 255 pages 2011 Reviewed by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–95) “In November of 1962, training began for the first Peace Corps project to work in the Central American country of Guatemala. In the spring of 1963, the first group of volunteers arrived in time for a military coup.” George “Lee” Gurney joined a group of Volunteers who trained in New York City, Puerto Rico, and at New Mexico State College before embarking upon a journey that widened his horizons forever. In his early twenties, he also found his wife in the Peace Corps. They both worked to help the people of rural Guatemala, but both suffered recurring health problems that truncated their tours. Many years after his Peace Corps experience, Gurney decided to write his memoir, which is actually a diary more than . . .