Archive - May 13, 2014

Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador 1965-67) is considered by many to be our ‘great’ Peace Corps writer. He is considered by others to be our most overlooked great American writer. Moritz was the author of a Peace Corps memoir Living Poor, the first of his three published books. He died of cholera in Guayaquil, Ecuador on August 28, 1991. Back in the days of our ‘old’ website: www.peacecorpswriters.org, we published a long essay on Moritz written by Marcus Covert who had reached out to me for any background information I might have on Moritz. Marc had learned about Moritz Thomsen through a piece by Pat Joseph in Salon.com, published in July 1998, titled “The Saddest Gringo.” He borrowed a copy of Living Poor and was hooked immediately. It didn’t take him long to burn through Farm on the River of Emeralds, The Saddest Pleasure, and My Two Wars, then he was, as . . .