Archive - November 14, 2014

In Manchuria: A Village Called Wasteland and the Transformation of Rural China by Michael Meyer (China 1995–97) Bloomsbury Press February 2015 384 pages Pre-order: $28.00 (Hardcover), $9.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by William Siegel (Ethiopia 1962-64) I’ve had an interest in literature about China since I discovered a volume of translated Chinese poems on my parent’s bookshelves. The book, a handsome hardbound edition in bright orange linen, had a picture on the front of a lone figure in flowing robes standing on a boat poling across a swift river. Inside was a poem by Li Po titled “The River Merchant’s Wife.” In the poem, as a nine or ten year old, I first found that words could evoke feelings such as the notion of longing. Michael Meyer’s absorbing second book about China (his first, The Last Days of Old Beijing, is one I’m looking forward to reading), brings us a fresh, inside . . .

The main character in Laurence Leamer’s (Nepal 1964-66) book, The Price of Justice: A True Story of Greed and Corruption, Donald L. Blankenship, was indicted on four criminal counts by a federal grand jury yesterday in West Virginia. He was charged with widespread violations of safety rules and deceiving federal inspectors. 29 men died in 2010, the worst coal mine disaster in West Virginia in 40 years. In today’s New York Times, Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia is quoted with saying, “As he [Blankenship] goes to trial, he will be treated far fairer and with more dignity than he ever treated the miners he employed. And, frankly, it’s more than he deserves.” The Price of Justice: A True Story of Greed and Corruption won the 2014 Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award presented by Peace Corps Writers. [For those not familiar with early Peace Corps history, Jay Rockefeller, when he was . . .