Marian Haley Beil – Page 6 – Peace Corps Worldwide

Review | GOATS: AND OTHER STORIES by Martin Ganzglass (Somalia)

Apr 30 2023

Goats: And Other Stories Martin R. Ganzglass (Somalia 1966–68) Peace Corps Writers 2021 305 pages $10.00 (paperback) Reviewed by Regina DeAngelo (Ghana 2000-2002) • At age 76, Allison Murphy has found herself widowed and living at a home for retired military personnel in a suburb near Washington. In addition to the usual nuisances of aging, Allie has recently taken a fall on a throw rug. This placed her square in the crosshairs of the administration, who are monitoring her from the newly installed security cameras, as well as through the eyes of the smiley guard at reception, in case she takes another tumble. Then there’s her nemesis, Sergeant Trottman, who’d like to see her and her attitude assigned to the Memory Ward. Amid the mini dramas of life in a retirement home, Allie’s own story unfolds. Fifty years ago, we learn, Allie was flying fighter planes: “nimble P-51s and . . .

The Volunteer Who Became a Well Published Novelist | Richard Wiley (Korea)

Apr 21 2023

A substantial portion of this profile was drawn from an October 2000 interview with Pif Magazine. Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) Richard Wiley, who served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Korea, 1967-69, is an American novelist and short-story writer whose first novel, Soldiers in Hiding, won the 1987 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Since then, he has published seven other novels and a wide variety of short stories. His subsequent novels, Fool’s Gold, Festival for Three Thousand Maidens, and Indigo received favorable notice in America’s flagship book periodical the New York Times Book Review, and elsewhere. Despite this, only his more recent book Ahmed’s Revenge, published by Random House remains in print. Richard holds a B. A. from the University of Puget Sound and an M. A. from Sophia University in Tokyo. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he studied under the . . .

Review | THE FALLEN by Edna G. Bay (Malawi)

Apr 12 2023

The Fallen: A Novel Edna G. Bay (Malawi 1965-68) Peace Corps Writers December 2022 220 pages $9.50 (paperback) Reviewed by Eugénie de Rosier (Philippines 2006-08) • Edna G. Bay served in the Peace Corps in Malawi in the 1960s. She has published a handful of academic books about Africa, and “The Fallen” is her first novel. Naïve, 30-year-old American Anna Moretti knows little of her mother’s death, an accident in east Africa’s Malawi, where her parents were development workers with the Peace Corps. Her dad, silent about her mother and Malawi for three decades, has just died, after raising Anna alone in the U.S., and she receives her mother’s African diary from her grandfather. Still dissatisfied with unanswered questions about how and why mother died, Anna flies to Malawi to locate and interview her parents’ friends, and learns her dad was accused of his wife’s murder, and was to be tried . . .

The Volunteer Who Published Nationally on Wealth Inequality in the U. S. | Robert H. Frank (Nepal)

Apr 11 2023

by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1966-68) Robert H. Frank served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal, 1966-68. Afterwards, he received a B. S. in Mathematics from Georgia Tech University in 1966, then an M. A. in statistics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1971, followed by a Ph. D. in Economics from UC Berkeley in 1972. Until 2001, Robert was the Goldwin Smith Professor of Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy in Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences. For the 2008-09 academic year, he was a Visiting Professor at the New York University Stern School of Business. He contributes to the “Economic View,” a column that appears every fifth week in The New York Times. Alongside these academic achievements, Robert was the chief economist for the Civil Aeronautics Board, a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences from 1992 – 1993, and a Professor . . .

The Volunteer who became a nationally known film director and producer — Taylor Hackford (Bolivia)

Mar 31 2023

Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) • After graduating from the University of Southern California, Taylor Hackford served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bolivia from 1968 to 1969. While in Bolivia, he started using a Super 8 movie camera in his spare time — a camera purchased for him by a fellow Volunteer. After his volunteer days, Taylor decided that he did not want to pursue a career in law as he had earlier considered, and instead found a mailroom job at KCET, a public TV station in Los Angeles, where, in 1970, he became an associate producer on the Leon Russell special “Homeword.” Then, In 1973, again at KCET, he produced a one-hour special “Bukowski” about the poet Charles Bukowski. Although he had never gone to film school, Taylor went on to be director of 15 major films, producer of 13 others, and the executive producer of 7 more. He was director . . .

The Volunteer Who Ran the Table on Foreign Service Appointments — Kathleen Stephens (South Korea)

Mar 09 2023

A Profile in Citizenship by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) • Kathleen Stephens holds a B.A. in East Asian studies from Prescott College and a M. A. from Harvard University. She also studied at the University of Hong Kong and Oxford University before becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer in South Korea from 1975-77, where she taught in the Yesan Middle School. Of her Volunteer experience, Kathleen said: “this is where I learned the qualities I needed to be a diplomat; I learned how to endure hardships and convince others.” Thereafter, when joining the U. S. Foreign Service in 1978, through hard work she earned major agency appointments — all the way up to serving as Ambassador to South Korea under two different U. S. presidents, and charge’ d’ affairs to India. She was well equipped to meet these professional challenges, speaking fluent Korean, Serbo-Croation, and Chinese. Early on in her . . .

New books by Peace Corps Writers | January & February 2023

Mar 03 2023

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 . . .

Review | LOUIE by David Mather (Chile)

Feb 17 2023

Louie — 5th in the Crescent Beach Series by David J Mather (Chile 1968– 70) Peace Corps Writers August 2022 323 pages $14.95 (paperback), $7.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Dean Jefferson (El Salvador 1974-76 and Costa Rica 1976-77) • 330 pages, 37 short chapters, Louie is another opportunity to enjoy David Mather’s unforgettable characters from Florida’s rural Big Bend region on the gulf coast, also known as the Redneck Riviera. This is another page-turner, leaving you wondering where the time went after spending a couple hours immersed in the story. And the chapters are short enough that you feel like you could read just one more! I strongly recommend that you read the whole five book series starting with Crescent Beach, followed by Raw Dawgin’, then The Biloxi Connection and Gator Bait, then finally this volume. However, this well-written novel also stands on its own very well. Most of the . . .

Review | SORRY, NO ENGLISH by Craig Storti (Morocco)

Feb 11 2023

Sorry, No English: 50 Tips to Improve your Communication with Speakers of Limited English Craig Storti (Morocco 1970-72) Chambers Publisher October 2022 189 pages $5.94 (Kindle); $12.60 (Paperback) Reviewed bu D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador 74-76) and Costa Rica 76-77). • What a shame this book didn’t exist when I was trying to help my wife learn English years ago. Craig Storti has been writing about intercultural communications for over 30 years and has published a number of useful books, but for everyone who needs to interact with speakers of limited English, this is the indispensable handbook we have been waiting for. The book will be useful to anyone working in a public-facing job from government to hospitality, international organizations, human resources, cross-cultural and diversity training, and teaching English as a second language. Also, those who simply have an interest in languages, cultures and communication will love this book. I . . .

The Volunteer Who Went onto National Media with His Political Views — Bob Beckel (Philippines)

Feb 09 2023

Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) • Robert (Bob) Beckel served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines from 1971 to 1972. Prior to that, Bob graduated from Wagner College in Staten Island, where he played football and worked for Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1968. After returning home from his Volunteer assignment, Bob was a graduate school professor of politics at George Washington University in the District of Columbia. In 1977, Bob joined the U. S. Department of State as deputy assistant Secretary of State in the Carter Administration. In that role, he helped to shepherd the Panama Canal Treaty through the Congress to ratification. The following year, he was appointed as Special Assistant to the president for legislative affairs, working on ratification of Salt II and Mideast treaties. Subsequently, Bob was the campaign manager for Walter Mondale’s 1984 presidential campaign. During that campaign, he became known as . . .

The Peace Corps staff member who became the first Peace Corps photographer | Rowland Scherman

Jan 28 2023

This Profile benefited greatly from a Peace Corps WorldWide publication. by Jeremiah Norris (Colombia 1963-65) • Rowland Scherman writes: Like so many others, I was thrilled by JFKs inaugural speech. Although I wasn’t a professional photographer, I made a few dollars doing portraits out of a makeshift studio or ‘on location’ on the streets of New York City. I shared a crappy little darkroom with a friend. But JFKs words made me think that I could do something more, and could reach a higher potential if I volunteered my work, and myself to the betterment of my country, instead of simply chasing a buck. I thought my services just might somehow be useful to the new administration.” Rowland took a bus to Washington, D. C. to seek work with the Peace Corps, announcing his potential availability as an official photographer. He went to Peace Corps headquarters, then a jumble of . . .

Review | GROWING MANGOS IN THE DESERT by Katherine Baird (Mauritania)

Jan 16 2023

Growing Mangos in the Desert: A Memoir of Life in a Mauritanian Village by Katherine Baird (Mauritania 1984–86) Apprentice House Press 2022 380 pages $19.99 (paperback), $32.99 (hard cover), $6.49 (Kindle) Reviewed by Lucinda Wingard (Nigeria 1966 – 68) • Among more than two dozen young volunteers trained for agricultural service in Mauritania in 1984, Katherine Baird was one of ten remaining by her second year. She had survived the rigors of wielding her short-handled hoe in blistering heat, had adapted to eating meals from a common bowl with her neighbors, and had successfully threaded through baffling local hierarchies. Mauritania needed Peace Corps to help staff a fledgling initiative funded with foreign money: growing rice along a desolate part of the Senegal River. Baird brought no experience to help her fulfill this work, but her diligent note-taking and detailed records show she pitched into her assignment with a will. “Keyti” . . .

Review | A LEGACY OF AMERICA’S GLOBAL VOLUNTEERISM

Jan 12 2023

A well-written, informative history of a groundbreaking 20th-century volunteer organization. Kirkus Reviews • Former International Voluntary Services workers provide insights into their organization in this detailed historical anthology. A nonprofit organization founded in 1953, International Voluntary Services, according to former IVS volunteer and United States Ambassador to Pakistan Wendy J. Chamberlin, “occupies a special place as a pioneer for fielding volunteers” that served as a model for the Peace Corps and a host of subsequent NGOs. The anthology, divided into four sections, is a historical overview of IVS’s endeavors from the 1950s through the 2000s. While IVS was an officially nonsectarian organization, the anthology explains that many IVS members came from Mennonite, Quaker, and Christian pacifist backgrounds, and the organization offered an alternative approach to international relations in the wake of World War II and the start of the Cold War. In its half-century of activism, IVS sent . . .

New books by Peace Corps writers | November-December 2022

Jan 11 2023

The Volunteer Who Became America’s Premier Sports Writer — Arnold Hano (Costa Rica)

Jan 03 2023

by Jerry Norris (Colombia 1963-65) • Arnold Hano served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica, 1991-93, after achieving nation-wide recognition for his coverage of the professional baseball sports world as an editor, novelist, biographer and journalist. Both he and his wife Bonnie served as community development volunteers. Arnold earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Long Island University, graduating cum laude in 1941. Shortly after, he became a copy boy for the New York Daily News. He was tasked with providing captions for the photos he brought back from professional baseball games. This afforded the nineteen-year-old, undreamt of opportunities, to chronicle baseball history. Interrupted in these endeavors by the US entry into WW II, he participated in various campaigns in the Aleutian Islands. After his discharge, he returned to New York and a career in book publishing, first as managing editor with Bantam, then as Editor-Chief with Lion Books. In . . .

Author - Marian Haley Beil