Book Reviews

  Global Geopolitical Power and African Political and Economic Institutions: When Elephants Fight by John James Quinn (Zaire PCV/Staff 1983-86) Lexington Books 394 pages 2015 $116.00 (hardback); $54.99 (paperback);$52.00 (kindle) Reviewed by Robert Hamilton (Ethiopia 1965-67) • Tembo, zikipigana huumia nyasi (When two elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers.) Swahili proverb   Professor John James Quinn of Truman State University in Missouri is moderately hopeful that economic and political changes during the period 1990 to the present will bring continued marginal success for Africa. Economic institutions in Africa changed after 1990 and the end of the Cold War, Quinn says.  African states were in debt and they were forced by international lending organizations to undertake fiscal reforms, including the “removal of impediments to trade, and some privatization of previously state-owned companies.” Still, Quinn notes, the African elite remains in control of large enterprises, and generally, a single majority party . . .

  Making Love while Levitating Three Feet in the Air (Short stories) Jeff Fearnside (Kazakhstan 2002–04) Stephen F. Austin University Press December 2016 175 pages $18.00 (paperback) Review by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993-96) • JEFF FEARNSIDE WAS A PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER in Kazakhstan from 2002 to 2004. He lives with his wife (an ethnic Russian Kazakhstani) and two cats in Corvallis, Oregon, where he teaches at Oregon State University, and is at work on a novel. Fearnside is an award-winning author and educator whose work in three genres — fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction — focuses strongly on place, culture, and the natural environment. He lived in Central Asia, traveled widely across Asia and twice bicycled throughout Great Britain. He earned degrees in creative writing from Bowling Green State University (BFA) and Eastern Washington University (MFA). Of the thirteen stories in Making Love While Levitating Three Feet in the Air, some are about relationships . . .

  Should I Still Wish: A Memoir John W. Evans (Bangladesh 1999–01) University of Nebraska Press January 2017 $16.00 (paperback), $15.20 (Kindle) Reviewed by Mark D. Walker (Guatemala 1971–73) John Evans’ moving memoir reads like a Greek tragedy with deep Peace Corps roots. Should I Still Wish is the second of his books to tell a story in Bangladesh where he served with his wife, Katie, as well as his second wife, Cate, all of whom were part of the “Peace Corps Tribe.” The first book, Young Widower tells a dreadful tale of his wife being mauled to death by a brown bear in the Carpathian Mountains while they were working for a year in Romania. The unfairness of this loss and the brutality of nature would impact him for much of his life after this violent event. In his second memoir, the author uses dreams, memories and a series of compelling . . .

  Kingdoms in the Air: Dispatches from the Far Away by Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean 1975-76) Grove Atlantic June 2016 383 pages $26.00 (hardback) $14.04 (Kindle) Reviewed by Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963-65) Travels abroad tend to inspire Peace Corps Volunteers, some (many) of whom have gone on to become noted writers. You can count National Book Award winner Bob Shacochis among them. He started out in the 1970s posted in the Caribbean (Grenada), and since then he has crisscrossed the globe seeking challenging stories to write — fiction and non-fiction, novels and essays, praiseworthy literary reportage, and adventurous travelers’ tales. The first story in Kingdoms in the Air: Dispatches from the Far Away takes up almost half the book. It is set in the Land of Lo (Lo-Manthang to its inhabitants), the high, uppermost part of Mustang District in north-central Nepal, crammed right up next to Tibet (China’s Xizang) on the . . .

   In the Valley of Birds (short stories) by Rebeka Fergusson-Lutz (Romania 2001-03) CreateSpace Publishing August 15, 2016 150 pages $8.99 (paper), $6.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Peter Deekle (Iran 1968–70) • Someone who has lived outside the United States, not merely visited other countries, but truly lived within a different culture, may be able appreciate the experiences that Rebeka Fergusson-Lutz vividly details in her first fiction publication, In the Valley of Birds. She is a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Romania, and teacher of English in a variety of schools; she also holds an advanced degree in international peace and conflict resolution. In the Valley of Bird is a collection of short stories written while the author lived and worked as an international school teacher in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, known as the “Murder Capital of the World.”  Fergusson-Lutz dedicates her book “to the millions of Hondurans who navigate complicated and difficult . . .

    The President’s Butler by Laurence Leamer (Nepal 1964-66) Foggy Bottom Books September  2016 320 pages $9.98 (paperback) $4.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Andy Martin (Ethiopia 1965-68) • Disclaimer:  I’m a life-long Democrat who until this year (2016) had no interest in Donald Trump, despite the fact that we live in the same town. I never listened to Howard Stern on the radio, I’ve never been to Trump Tower or any other of Trump’s mega structures in New York City. I never watched The Apprentice, Miss Universe, or Miss Teen USA. I did stand outside of The Taj Majal casino on the boardwalk on Atlantic City, once many years ago, while it was under construction. I held zero fascination for Mr. Trump until he declared his candidacy for President of the United States. — A. M. The President’s Butler, by Laurence Leamer is a satirical look at Donald Trump, his background and his candidacy. It . . .

  A Wild Hare: Finding the Life I Imagined Siffy Torkildson (Madagascar 2001–02) Sacred World Explorations July 2015 294 pages $17.99 (paperback), $7.99 (Kindle) Review by Deidre Swesnik (Mali 1996-98) • A QUOTE FROM BUDDHA in Siffy Torkildson’s book, A Wild Hare, is, “As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life.” For Torkildson’s journey, I think she might also add, “be who you are.” Being present and being herself guides her on a journey to “finding the life I imagined.” She learned the hard way for too many years of not following her heart. But she is now determined to take what she has learned and to move forward with her newly found true love. She will not be deterred. Torkildson lets us into her innermost thoughts in this book that is part memoir, part travel guide. The book starts . . .

  So Many Reasons to Die: An Andi Battaglia – Greg Lamont Mystery by Carole Sojka (Somalia 1962–64) Create Space 2015 322 pages $14.00 (paperback), $3.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Matthew Hamilton (Armenia 2006-08 and Philippines 2008-10) • This evocative sequel to A Reason to Kill, by Carole Sojka (Somalia 1962-64), comes with all the sleaze, violence, and eroticism one expects to find on the sketchy side of Miami’s nightlife. One reader said, “There is no doubt in my mind this is a very easy rating of 5 stars.” I would have to agree. The story centers on the murder victim, Miranda Duncan, whom we never meet, but learn about through her friends, lovers, and enemies. She is indeed a fascinating character, a true femme fatale that led a life of intrigue, danger, and seduction. Sojka is an excellent researcher. Her descriptions of the murder scene and the way police conduct investigations are . . .

  Lips Open and Divine (poetry) by Matthew A. Hamilton  (Armenia 2006–08, Philippines 2008–10) Winter Goose Publishing 2016 107 pages $11.99 (paperback), $4.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by Ann Neelon (Senegal 1978-79) • As the Roman dramatist Terence famously wrote, “I am a man. Therefore nothing human is foreign to me.”  More than most writers, especially young ones, Matthew A. Hamilton succeeds in giving us an authentic sense of this human amplitude. The range of Lips Open and Divine, his second book of poems, is astonishing. Whether it is in “Thich Quang Duc” witnessing the flames crawling up a self-immolating Buddhist monk’s arms like “a tamed cat” or in “Chickamauga” “accepting/the dry-bone shouts/of a lost cause,” Hamilton is on the scene. His originality lies in his ability to go for the jugular in terms of shock value while remaining, essentially, within the realm of prayer. Hamilton is a veteran as well as . . .

  Consulting in International Development, A Primer John Holley (Colombia 1968-70) Infinity Publishing 2014 452 pages $26.95 (paperback), $8.95 (Kindle) reviewed by Russ Misheloff (Ethiopia 1962–64) • DRAWING ON 40 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE, Mr. Holley has developed a comprehensive description of the life and functions of international development consultants. The book is organized into three sections covering: the process of entry into the profession, and why one might want to consider it; the “basics,” to use the author’s term;  a discussion of what consultants in the development arena do, and what abilities, attitudes and behaviors the good ones exhibit; and an extensive examination of some tools and concepts. In sum, it presents a “primer,” as the title indicates, but a thorough one, providing a wealth of information and insight into the functions, the life style, the rewards, the drawbacks, and the abilities and disposition needed for success in development consulting . . .