Book Reviews

  I think Angels of Bastogne: A Remembrance of World War II by Glenn Ivers is a terrific and unusual World War II story. Its drama and characters are, in my view, riveting. Ivers weaves a complex structure with third person observation and commentary, a history lesson, and a first person set of interactions and dialogue. The result is a completely engaging experience that teaches, provides human context, and puts the reader in the middle of the narrative. Owen Shapiro, Professor Emeritus in Film, College of Visual and Performing Arts Syracuse University; Co-founder and Artistic Director, Syracuse International Film Festival; Co-founder and Emeritus President, International Filmmaking Academy, Bologna, Italy. • I normally don’t spend any time with historical fiction. Then, I read the first few pages of Angels of Bastogne and didn’t stop until 100 pages! The writing about life going on amid the horror of war is intriguing. The psychology of maintaining sanity amid insane . . .

  The Boy with Four Names (for adults and young adults) Doris Rubenstein (Ecuador 1971-73) IUniverse June 2021 180 pages $13.99 (paperback), $3.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by John Chromy (India 1963–65); (PC CD/Eastern Caribbean (1977–79); (Assoc Dir-PC/Washington 1979–1981) • In Italy their baby son was named Enrico, and through the support of a network of Jewish people, the Cohen family were able to obtain a visa to enter Ecuador, one of the few western countries willing to take in Jewish immigrants despite the rapidly growing nightmare unfolding in Europe. Arriving on an hacienda in the Altiplano, young Enrico acquired his second name, Enrique, when his family was employed on the ranch and he began school. The story follows his family’s move three years later to Quito where his father opened a small shop and Enrique entered public school, Escuela Espejo, where he thrived academically, but faced numerous social issues as a . . .

  Yogurt Culture: A Global Look at How to Make, Bake, Sip, and Chill the World’s Creamiest, Healthiest Food by Cheryl Sternman Rule (Eritrea 1995-97) Harvest Publisher 352 pages April 2015 $12.99 (Kindle); $19.18 (Hardback)   Reviewed by Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia 1965-67) • What a joy to read a cookbook by a talented cook who also happens to be a wonderful writer! Rule opens with a description of the creature “comforts” she and her husband created when they were Peace Corps Volunteers in Eritrea in the mid-1990s, beginning with a couch made by “folding a mattress in half and tying a few logs to it with yellow nylon rope.” She describes some of their early culinary attempts including making yogurt, but when they finally got it right, they vowed that when their Peace Corps service ended they would make yogurt forever. It was 15 years before she fulfilled that pledge, but . . .

  The Peace Corps and Latin America: In the Last Mile of U.S. Foreign Policy by Thomas J. Nisley (Dominican Republic 1989-91); Ph.D./University of Florida; professor of International Relations and Latin American Studies at Kennesaw State University, Georgia. Lexington Books, 2018 158 pages $95.00 (hardcover), $39.99 (paperback), $37.99 (Kindle) Reviewed by John Chromy (India 1963-65) • Reading Dr. Nisley’s book gives the reader a sense of his love and admiration for the Peace Corps, its enormous impact on his own life and somewhat more limited impact on the people in the community in which he served. With that in mind he sets off to examine the Peace Corps’ role in U.S. Foreign Policy, and specifically whether the Peace Corps “makes a difference” in U.S. Foreign Policy. Like it or not, Dr. Nisley points out that the Peace Corps was conceived as an extension of the U.S. foreign policy, and launched in a period of . . .

  My Peace Corps, My Vietnam War Jack  Boyd (Kenya 1967–68) Independently published, 2020 186 pages $24.00 (paperback), $7.00 (Kindle) Reviewed by Kevin M. Denny (Malawi 1964-66) • I was eager to review Jack Boyd’s book My Peace Corps, My Vietnam to see how his experience with both Peace Corps and Vietnam compared with my own. I served in Malawi from 1964 to 1966 as a health educator while Boyd was in Kenya as a teacher from 1967 to 1968. What I came to appreciate was what a difference two years could make! In my case I had been accepted into the Peace Corps in Spring of 1964 and arrived in Malawi in July just when that the country was celebrating its new independence. from Queen Elizabeth II. At that time there was no consideration among male PCVs as to how the ongoing Vietnam war would alter our lives. I can . . .

  Goats: And Other Stories Martin Ganzglass (Somalia 1966–68) Peace Corps Writers March, 2021 305 pages $10.00 (paperback) Reviewed by D.W. Jefferson • Martin Ganzglass was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Somalia   from 1966 to 1968. He has published a number of works of fiction and nonfiction, including six in an American Revolutionary War series. This collection of short stories includes a wide range of characters, narrators, and settings. The title story, “Goats,” starts out appearing to be historical fiction but ends with a twist that is pure sci-fi. The first story, “Bridges,” is set in the era of the Viet Nam War, but others are set in the 21st century. In addition to the ten regular stories, there is a section called lagniappe (pronounced lan-yap) at the end of the book. According to the author, a lagniappe is an old Louisiana tradition in which shopkeepers give customers a . . .

  History Shock: When History Collides with Foreign Relations by John Dickson (Gabon 1976-1979) University Press of Kansas 248 pages June 2021 $26.49 (Kindle); $34.95 (Hardcover) Review by Eric Madeen (Gabon 1981-83) • John Dickson’s recently released book History Shock: When History Collides with Foreign Relations is ambitious and makes good on its ambitions: to delineate where and when America’s foreign policy “spills across national boundaries.” Indeed: how this book spills across the world map! As he notes, recently no other country blundered as much and easily as the United States, resulting in countless faux pas, cross-cultural insensitivities, outright missteps and innumerable aggressions, all adding up to obstructions of cooperative efforts on mutual interests. There’s much ground covered with chapters on Mexico and Canada (both partly concern “Forgotten Wars” there and the shocking reminder that the United States seized half of Mexico’s territory as a result of wars instigated by . . .