Archive - September 2015

King of the Gypsies: Stories by Lenore Myka (Romania 1994–96) BkMk Press, University of Missouri-Kansas City 2015 215 pages $15.95 (paperback) Review by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96) • Lenore Myka writes astonishing stories of the Romany people (Gypsies), sex-trafficking, inter-cultural relationships, adoption of Romanian children, all with the deep, often disturbing understanding that comes with living in a particular place with people who define your life for a significant period of time, as would a Peace Corps Volunteer. But this is not a Peace Corps memoir; in fact, Myka’s service in Romania is mentioned only in passing. The narratives are mysteriously linked. In the title story, we meet a Romany child, Dragoş, an orphan who counters bullies by puffing himself up, pounding his chest and proclaiming himself “King of the Gypsies.” His search for his parents is heart-breaking, as is his brutal confrontation with a dog. In another story, . . .

Africa’s Heart: The Journey Ends in Kansas by Mark Wentling (PCV Honduras, 1967–69, Togo 1970–73; PC Staff/Togo, Gabon, Niger, 1973–77) A Peace Corps Writers Book, 2015 522 pages $ 16.07 (paperback); $8.99 (Kindle) Review by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96) • AFRICA’S HEART: The Journey Ends in Kansas is the last book in a trilogy by Mark Wentling; the first is Africa’s Embrace, followed by Africa’s Release: The Journey Continues. Mark Wentley’s stories revolve around David Peterson, a Peace Corps Volunteer in the imaginary country of Kotoku. The villagers call him Bobovovi and, when they see him ride a moonbeam one magical night, they believe he can commune with their ancestors, but when Bobo disappears into a giant baobab tree they view him as a great spirit. To honor him, they work hard to fulfill Bobo’s many schemes for economic development, and they begin to prosper. Bobo had fallen in . . .

Ad Nauseam: How Advertising And Public Relations Changed Everything by Jeff  Koob (Jamaica 1991–93) iUniverse March 2015 196 pages $16.95 (paperback), $3.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Gerald Karey (Turkey 1965–67) • “If you read no other book this year, read Jeff Koob’s Ad Nauseam. It will change your life.” There you have it: the hyperbole and the promise to make you a better you, a claim I can’t possibly substantiate. It’s advertising. It’s propaganda. “Propagandists use emotion and unfounded assertions rather than logic and fact, selecting emotionally loaded words and images to create a desired feeling, or combining facts and half-truths or outright lies — with emotional triggers,” Koob writes. “Many ads are unburdened by anything resembling truth.” Most Americans, if asked, would say propaganda is something that happens elsewhere, Koob writes. “We’re so steeped in propaganda techniques that most of us don’t notice them in advertising and public relations campaigns.” . . .

The two recent The New Yorker magazines (August 31st & September 7th) contain articles by George Packer (Togo 1982-84), both worth reading. In the August issue is a long, long piece entitled “The Other France” that is subtitled, Are the suburbs of Paris incubators of terrorism? The article goes onto saying that “Although the alienated, impoverished immigrant communities outside Paris are increasingly prone to anti-Semitism, the profiles of French jihadists don’t track closely with class. Many of them have come from bourgeois families.” The second piece is a short The Talk of the Town comment entitled “The Populists” that begins with a 1910 quote from Thomas E. Watson, a populist from Georgia, who had a long demagogic career in American politics. Packer writes that Watson “ended his career, as a U.S. senator, whipping up white-Protestant enmity against blacks, Catholics, and Jews.” (Does this sound like someone we know today?) Watson . . .

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com, click on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. • Autobiography of a Black Sheep Eddie James Girdner (India 1968–70) CreateSpace August, 2015 482 pages $16.95 (paperback) . • Historical Ecology of Malaria in Ethiopia: Deposing the Spirits James C. McCann (Ethiopia 1973–75) Ohio University Press June 2015 216 pages $75.00 (hard cover), $26.40 (paperback), $14.39 (Kindle) . • Travel Tales of a Feisty Fifty-something: All Roads Lead Home Joanne  Nussbaum (Mongolia 2010–12) BookBaby January 2015 116 pages $3.99 (Kindle) . • How to Write a Novel (a novel) Melanie Sumner (Senegal 1988–90) Vintage August, 2015 304 pages $14.95 (paperback), $7.99 (Kindle), $29.95 (MP3 CD) • The Peace Corps, . . .

The editor and publisher of Peace Corps Worldwide have decided to narrow the focus of this blog, and limit articles to only those pertaining to the written works by PCVs and RPCVs, and those about the Peace Corps itself — much as was the case in the past when we began producing the newsletter RPCV Writers & Readers in 1989, and subsequently the website Peace Corps Writers. This decision is based on the fact that with 50+ years of the Peace Corps, numerous books and other works are being published by RPCV writers, and we are overwhelmed with material, need to sharpen our attention, and bring the purpose of the site back to our original efforts to fulfill the Third Goal. We especially appreciate, and thank, all of those RPCVs who have written blogs for Peace Corps Worldwide outside these criteria that we have discontinued, but it is time for . . .