July 2025 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Review: Junkyard Kid: Born in a Warehouse, Traveled the World, by Danny Langdon (Ethiopia, 1962-64)

Jul 29 2025

Title: Junkyard Kid: Born in a Warehouse, Traveled the World Author: Danny Langdon (RPCV Ethiopia, 1962-64) Published: Aug 7, 2024 (Performance International) Review by Catherine Onyemeluk (Nigeria, 1962-64) Junkyard Kid: Born in a Warehouse, Traveled the World recounts the life experiences of Danny Langdon from his earliest chapter to the final one. Starting with the warehouse of furs, pelts and hides where he was born in Twin Falls, Id. he describes his family and childhood, marked by his father’s illness and death when he was 7. While his father lay dying, his mother took on the two roles of both mother and father. She took over the warehouse business, doing the accounting, selling the furs, working with scrap iron. The many loving references to his mother throughout the book are some of the most meaningful experiences of Langdon’s book. Reflecting on his childhood in the warehouse, Langdon summarizes his reactions: . . .

Review: Married to Amazement, by Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia, 1965-67)

Jul 25 2025

Christine Herbert (Zambia, 2004-06) reviews Kathleen Coskran’s Married to Amazement. This memoir is available on Amazon and Bookshop.org. Title: Married to Amazement: A Memoir Author: Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia, 1965-67) Published: Apr 24, 2025 (Peace Corps Worldwide) Review by Christine Herbert (Zambia, 2004-06) When Coskran’s memoir kicks off by disclosing to her readers she’s not just old, but old old (81 years), we can’t help but be drawn in by her humor and candor. She doesn’t claim to offer any pearls of wisdom, but instead offers up memories of moments that have brought her into a state of utter amazement and profound gratitude. To this end, she offers a collection of short stories—little snippets of wonder—to offer us glimpses of her extraordinary life experience. This book is an invitation to examine life’s gifts and mysteries through her eyes. That is to say, she offers us not pearls, but absolute gems. She opens with her first grand cross-cultural adventure, a crash . . .

Book Announcement: Born in Kansas but Made in Africa, by Mark Wentling (Honduras, 1967-69; Togo, 1970-73)

Jul 24 2025

Sharing a press release by the publisher of a new memoir, available on Amazon. A Powerful Memoir Recounts Five Decades Across 54 African Nations In his latest and most personal work, Born in Kansas but Made in Africa, author and development expert Mark G. Wentling shares the story of a life shaped by more than half a century of continuous involvement with the African continent. Although he did not work in every country, Wentling has visited 54 African nations, a rare distinction that frames his deep and enduring connection to the continent. Wentling began his international journey in 1970 when he left Kansas to serve Togo as a Peace Corps Volunteer. That initial three-year assignment evolved into a lifelong commitment to Africa. Over the next five decades, he took on increasingly impactful roles, from Peace Corps leadership positions in Gabon and Niger to complex rural development initiatives with USAID, where he rose to . . .

The Secret Lives of Brando, Pacino, Dolly Parton, and More, by Lawrence Grobel (Ghana, 1966-68) in Vanity Fair

Jul 15 2025

The Secret Celebrity Diaries: A Master Interviewer’s Behind-the-Scenes Chronicles For decades, veteran celebrity interviewer Lawrence Grobel has been getting Hollywood’s biggest stars to open up in ways few journalists ever have. But while conducting legendary interviews with icons like Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, and Dolly Parton for Playboy magazine, he was secretly keeping a detailed diary of everything that happened behind the scenes—the anxious phone calls, the unexpected friendships, the creative struggles, and the deeply human moments that never made it into print. In this fascinating Vanity Fair excerpt from his unpublished journals, Grobel reveals what it was really like to spend ten days on Brando’s private island near Tahiti, to watch a paranoid Pacino worry he’d revealed too much, and to have Dolly Parton talk him out of interviewing Charles Manson because “he’d steal your soul.” The diary entries span from 1977 to 1981 and read like a time capsule of both Hollywood’s golden . . .

Review: The Village, by Bill Owens (Jamaica 1964-66)

Jul 01 2025

Neiger Green-Patrick (Haiti, 2005) reviews Bill Owens’s The Village. This photography book is available on Amazon and Bookshop.org. Title: The Village Author: Bill Owens Published: January 25, 2014 (True North Editions) Review by Neiger Green-Patrick (Haiti, 2005) Before diving into this review, I must preface it by sharing that I am a student of documentary photography. My Peace Corps service in Haiti was made more dynamic by the presence of my Nikon 35mm. The way my community was drawn to the lens opened a view of Haiti that felt nothing short of magical. In The Village, Bill Owens elevates the everyday with a narrative and aesthetic sensibility that’s graceful. Moving beyond the conventional portrayals of Jamaica—lush greenery, crystal clear waters, and unapologetic use of color—Owens captures the daily rhythms of Central Village and the life of the communities that most visitors might not see. Through the intimacy of service and proximity, he offers viewers a more grounded, deeply . . .

Archive - July 2025