New books by Peace Corps writers | September – October 2022

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 from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards.

We include a brief description for each of the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers  to order a book and/or  to VOLUNTEER TO REVIEW IT.

 See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at marian@haleybeil.com, and she will send you a free copy along with a few instructions.

P.S. In addition to the books listed below, I have on my shelf a number of other books whose authors would love for you to review. Go to Books Available for Review to see what is on that shelf.

Please, please join in our Third Goal effort and review a book(s)!!!

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History

A Legacy of America’s Global Volunteerism: International Voluntary Services 1953–2002
co-editors: Gary Alex, Mike Chilton and Frederic C. Benson; contributor: Paul A. Rodell (PC Philippines 1968–71)
Peace Corps Writers
September 2022
370 pages
$20.00 (paperback)

A Legacy of America’s Global Volunteerism explores the philosophical and organizational growth of international volunteerism.

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History

Epitaph: Extremism, (Anachronism, Anarchism, Infantilism, Nihilism)
or A More Perfect Union
by Carolyn Ladelk Bennett (Sierra Leone 1964-66)
Xlibris Publisher
252 pages
August 2022
$3.99 (Kindle); $17.99 (Paperback); $31.99 (Hardback)

Epitaph returns to the framers of the American Union, lays out the nature of present-day American extremism with critical evidence from distant headlines and information sources and context of world thinkers — originating far beyond the Washington Beltway.

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Essays

Ships In The Desert
by Jeff Fearnside (Kazakhstan 2002–04)
Santa Fe Writer’s Project
136 pages
August, 2022
$14.95 (paperback), $8.99 (Kindle)

A book Pulitzer Prize Finalist Kim Barnes has called “informative, impassioned, and urgent” and Peace Corps Worldwide 2022 Writer of the Year Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan 1996) has described as “an intimate and effortlessly wide-ranging account, Ships in the Desert exxplores universal issues of cultural intolerance, religious bigotry, and how a battle over water rights and the unnatural disaster of the Aral Sea in Central Asia impacts the entire world

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Novel

BIX: Because I Exist
by Stephen Foehr (Ethiopia 1965-66)
Foehr & Son Publisher
286 pages
August 2022
$0.00 (Kindle); $8.99 (Paperback)

How to resist an authoritarian government without being beaten, imprisoned, or killed.

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Peace Corps Memoir

Finding Our Way: A Newlywed Couple’s Peace Corps Odyssey
in 1960s Korea
Steven  Gallon (Korea 1967-69)
Peace Corps Writers
288 pages
September 2022
$12.99 (paperback),  $7.99 (Kindle)

Finding Our Way chronicles two years of a young couple’s life as Peace Corps Volunteers in South Korea during 1967-69. Living with a host Korean family, they discover the patterns and rhythms of everyday life in a country whose culture and customs are unfamiliar. Their story weaves historic events in both Korea and the United States, during which they face cultural dilemmas, embrace adventures of discovery, experience trying times and build lifelong friendships.

Their stories — some humorous, some joyful, some troubling, and others mysterious — are the stuff of lifetime memories.

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Peace Corps memoir

Beyond The Road to Sinyea: A Peace Corps Memoir
by Ann Hales (Liberia 1981–1983)
Peace Corps Writers
187 pages
September 2022
$12.95 (paperback), $3.99 (kindle), $14.99 (IngramSpark)

This deeply personal Peace Corps Volunteer memoir is an honest reflection of life in Liberia as seen through the eves of a young psychiatric nurse practitioner, who experiences culture clash, helplessness, vulnerability, and transformation.

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Travel

Cruising the Mediterranean During Covid
by Steve Kaffen (Russia 1994-96)
Independently published
September 2022
Amazon is offering free downloads of the book ($0.00 cost) September 9-11, 2022.
$3.99 (Kindle)

It is what it is.

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Historical fiction

Those Who are Gone
by Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77)
Independently published
September 2022
118 pages
$13.00 (Paperback)

In 1964 Scottsdale, Arizona, Jack Colter recounts childhood adventures and mishaps in the company of his friends, a stew of Anglos, Yaqui, Papago and Pima Indians. They learn about each other and southwestern lore.

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Sociology

Equal Partners: Improving Gender Equality at Home
by Kate Mangino (Togo 2003-05)
St. Martin’s Press
339 pages
June 2022
$14.99 (Kindle); $26.53 (Hardcover), $17.86 or 1 credit (Audible)

“An inspiring and inclusive guide for rethinking and reworking household gender roles.”―Booklist (starred review)

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Fiction

Louie
by David J Mather (Chile 1968– 70)
Peace Corps Writers
August 2022
323 pages
$14.95 (paperback), $7.99 (Kindle)

LOUIE, the 5th novel of the “Crescent Beach Series,” is about two well-loved members of a north Florida fishing village community whose lives are turned upside down when their past catches up to them.  

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US History

Drayton Hall Stories: A Place and Its People
by Georg W. McDaniel (Togo 1968-70)
Evening Post Books
April 2022
$39.95 (Hardback)

The first book in the nation to focus on a site’s recent history using interviews with descendants (both White and Black), board members, staff, donors, architects, historians, preservationists, tourism leaders, and more.

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Memoir

God Holds You
by Sarah S. Scherschligt (Malawi 1996-98)
Independently published
October 2022
357 pages
$17.99 (Paperback)

An essential reflection on faith and humanity during the 21st century’s most unforgettable year.