Peace Corps writers

IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE PEACE CORPS there was a man at the agency whose name is never mentioned in any histories today, or even remembered by the men and women of that time, all those Mad Men and Women who were turning official Washington on its ear as they created from nothing a new government department at 806 Connecticut Avenue, diagonally across Lafayette Park from the White House. Even the first architects of the Peace Corps who were ‘present at the creation’ in the Mayflower Hotel that winter of 1961 seldom note him by name. He came and went silently at the Peace Corps, lasting less than a year in the Maiatico Building. What is most surprising is that Paul Francis Geren was someone of real importance at the agency. He was the first Deputy Director of the Peace Corps. Who was Paul F. Geren I wanted to know when . . .

Eritrea Remembered: Recollections & Photos by Peace Corps Volunteers edited by Marian Haley Beil (Ethiopia 1962–64) Peace Corps Writers 184 pages $10.00 (paperback), $2.99 (Kindle) December 2011 • The Fish & Rice Chronicles: My Extraordinary Adventures in Palau and Micronesia by PG Bryan (Micronesia 1967–70) Xlibris 334 pages $19.99 (paperback), $29.99 (hard cover), $7.69 (Kindle) August 2011 • Report of My Death: Beyond-the-Grave Confessions of North American Writers by Girard R. Christmas ( Thailand 1973–76; Western Samoa 1976–78) Lulu Publisher 660 pages $49.95 (hard cover);$34.95 (paperback);$13.99 (Kindle) 2007, Revised 2010 • Hope Is Cut: Youth, Unemployment, and the Future in Urban Ethiopia by Daniel Mains (Ethiopia 1998–99) Temple University Press 208 pages $69.50 (hard cover) November 2011 • One For The Road (Novel) by David J. Mather (Chile 1968-70) Peace Corps Writers 400 pages September 2011 $14.95 (paperback)

Jeffrey Tayler (Morocco 1988-90; PC/Staff Poland 1992; Uzbekistan 1992-93) is a PCV writer who never came home but has kept writing. He is the author of such travel books as Siberian Dawn and Facing the Congo, and has published numerous articles in The Atlantic, Spin, Harper’s, and Conde´ Nast Traveler, plus being a regular commentator on NPR’s “All Things Considered.”  Tayler lives in Russia and in the current issue of The Atlantic has a piece on a remote archipelago of Russia, one of county’s holiest places, the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral. It is located on the largest of the Solovetsky Islands and “amid the gale-lashed White Sea, just outside the Arctic Circle,” Jeff writes. Tayler lives in Moscow and Solovki is 650 miles away by plane. (And you thought it was a long way to your site!) The Soviets opened the Solovetsky Monastery back in 1967 as a museum and the monks returned there in 1990. It has taken this RPCV a little . . .

The accepted supposition is that there are only six degrees of separation between any two people on Earth. But, I think, if we are talking about RPCVs that ratio tightens and it is more like 4 connections between you and anyone else in the world. And if you add growing up in the rural Mid-West in a town of less than 100,000, and being the same age, well, then, maybe, for all practical purposes, you’re kissin’ cousins. So that is why it is not so strange that Peter Hessler (China 1996-98) has a piece in the January 9, 2012, New Yorker about a guy named Jake Adelstein–who Peter knew as a kid in Missouri–and who went to Tokyo five years ago not knowing a word of Japanese, became a crime reporter for the country’s largest newspapers, and now lives in Tokyo under police protection because of his articles on the yakuza, Japan’s version of . . .

Sweet Teeth and Loose Bowels: The Adventures of an International Aid Worker by Michael S. Gerber (Philippines 1970–73) Troubador Publishing 296 pages $18.95 (paperback) 2007 Reviewed by Robert E. Hamilton (Ethiopia 1965–67) UNDERSTANDABLY, ONE DOESN’T INFORM the family gathered around the Thanksgiving table, “Hey, I’m reading an informative book on international aid with the interesting title of . . ..”  One alternative:  “Read Chapter 34 of Book Two of  Dr. Michael Gerber’s 2007 publication.” There the title is explained.  A better title might have derived from a comment by a fellow Non-Government Organization (NGO) colleague:  “It is the poor and the suffering who create jobs for us.” (Page 252)  Or, as his youngest son, then 11, remarked, following Gerber’s description of what an NGO director does: “Now I understand your job. I can just tell my friends you are a ‘professional beggar.’” Michael Gerber (BA, MA, Ph.D.) worked in Asia and . . .

This is a article from Sunday’s local Eugene, OR newspaper on the self-published book, published only as an ebook, and written Jerry Rust, who served in India. Not sure of his years in-country. If you lived in Eugene, it is your kind of book, and you might know Jerry. • A Murder Mystery of Lane County Former politician’s first novel is steeped in local history by Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard, Eugene, OR (Sunday, Jan 8, 2012 ) He started out as a Peace Corps volunteer, became a tree planter and then won election as a Lane County commissioner. After five terms in office, from 1977 to 1997, Jerry Rust worked as a carpenter before getting the yen to go off to China to teach English as a second language and, at the same time, improving his own grasp of Chinese. Now 68, Rust has added another line to his résumé – . . .

To Benin and Back: Short Stories, essays and reflections about Life in Benin as a Peace Corps Volunteer and the Subsequent Readjustment Process by Chris Starace (Benin 1995–97) iUniverse 313pages $29.95 (hardback), $19.95 (paperback), $7.69 (Kindle) 2011 Reviewed by David H. Day (Kenya 1965–66; India 1967–68) AS WORDS BEGAN TO TUMBLE off the first pages of Chris  Starace’s new memoir of his Peace Corps assignment in Benin, I realized I was in for a riveting ride through the author’s two-year experience in this tropical, sub-Saharan country. I held in my hands a model of confessional humility, self-reflection and exquisite narrative detail this reviewer hasn’t seen in most recent Peace Corps writing. Page after page, Starace’s perceptual antennae tuned to every single cultural subtlety, nuance and innuendo of social interaction, I had absolutely no choice but to applaud this author’s incredible ability to savor every moment — even the hardships and . . .

A Friend in the Police by John Givens (South Korea 1967–69) Concord ePress October 2011 195 pp. $7.77 (Kindle) Reviewed by Darcy Munson Meijer (Gabon 1982–84) JOHN GIVENS’ A FRIEND IN THE POLICE is intense, mysterious and imbued with a sense of jungle doom. The story shares parallels with Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, but Givens adds humor and a modern twist to make the story more accessible and quite enjoyable. Givens locates Friend in a nameless jungle “Republic” —  a combination of Southeast Asian locales — and populates it sparsely with strange characters. George Bates has come from the United States to find his young adult son, Philip. He fears he is in police detention, but doesn’t know what for. He meets only blocks in his search, in the person of Detective Sergeant Xlong and his witless officers. Xlong knows something about Philip, but he won’t tell. He hints of . . .

Mined Muzzle Velocity (poetry) by Jennifer H. Fortin (Bulgaria 2004–06) Lowbrow Press $13.00 (paperback) 67 pages 2011 • Sweet Teeth and Loose Bowels: The Adventures of an International Aid Worker by Michael S. Gerber (Philippines 1970-73) Troublador $18.95 (paperback); $6.99 (Kindle) 280 pages 2007 • War of Hearts And Minds: An American Memoir by Jemes Jouppi (Thailand 1971–73) iUniverse 618 pages $45.95 (hardcover), $35.95 (paperback), $3.95 (Kindle) 2011 • How the Mistakes Were Made by Tyler McMahon (El Salvador 1999–2002) St. Martin’s Trade 352 pages $26.99 (hardback), $14.99 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) October 2011 • To Benin and Back: Short Stories, Essays, and Reflections About Life in Benin as a Peace Corps Volunteer and the Subsequent Readjustment Process by Chris Starace(Benin 1995-97) iUniverse 311 pages $29.95 (hardcover), $19.95 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle), $7.99 (Nook) September 2011

Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996-98) author of How to Cook a Crocodile: A Memoir with Recipes– the first book published by the Peace Corps Writers Book imprint!– who is also a blogger on this site at: Cooking Crocodiles & Other Food Musings has just received three prestigious awards from Gourmand International. Her book’s awards were in the categories of Food Literature, African Cuisine (Gabon), and Charity and Community (North America). The 16-year-old organization Gourmand International, headquartered in Madrid, Spain, publishes GOURMAND magazine and sponsors the Gourmand World Cookbooks Awards, held in a different world capital each year. The 2011 awards will be presented on March 6, 2012, at the Folies Bergère in Paris, kicking off the weeklong Paris Cookbook Fair. Black plans to attend the awards ceremony and book fair in Paris. Among the organization’s stated objectives are “to reward and honor those who cook with words,” and “to increase knowledge of, and respect for, food . . .

Peasants Come Last: A Memoir of the Peace Corps at Fifty by J. Larry Brown (India late 1960s) Lucita Publisher $12.99 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle) 174 pages September 2011 Reviewed by  Ken Hill (Turkey 1965–67) A DENSELY POPULATED, complex and important African country, Uganda suffers from a history of violence reflected in names like Idi Amin, Milton Obote and the Lord’s Resistance Army.  Peace Corps has entered Uganda three times and left twice since the ’60s.  Currently, some 175 PCVs serve in Uganda supported by a staff of 30+. Dr. J. Larry Brown became the Uganda Country Director in late 2008.  Peasants Come Last is a punchy and compelling narrative of his latest Peace Corps experience, providing a chilling perspective of the significant challenges faced by Peace Corps in such a post. The book applauds and honors Peace Corps Volunteers and staff in Uganda, explaining the worrisome dangers that must be . . .

The New Yorker in the December 19 & 26, 2011 issue has a long insightful piece by Peter Hessler (China 1996-98) entitled “The Mosque on the Square” Two weeks inside the Egyptian revolution. You can find it on page 46. As many of us know, Peter, his wife, and their toddler twins, are living now in Cairo where Peter is reporting on that nation’s Arab Spring for The New Yorker and for all of us. In November of this year, Peter sent us a quick report from Egypt; it was shortly after his family arrived in-country. Once again, our website www.peacecorpsworldwide.org is ahead of the Times, on top of the News, and before the New Yorker when it comes to keeping track of RPCV writers! Here’s what Peter had to say a month ago. (But you may also want to read his longer piece in the current issue of the . . .

In James Jouppi’s (Thailand 1971–73) long, rambling and detailed memoir — Wars of Hearts And Minds — about his time in-country in Thailand and readjusting to the U.S. — there are a seven pages, 565 to 572, that focus on the cult (to some people) movie, Volunteers released in 1985. For those who missed Volunteers this is briefly the plot: Lawrence Bourne III, played by young Tom Hanks, is a spoiled rich kid in the 1960 with a large gambling debt. After his father, Lawrence Bourne Jr. (George Plimpton), refuses to pay his son’s debt, Lawrence escapes his angry debtors by trading places with his college roommate Kent (Xander Berkeley) and jumps on a Peace Corps flight to Southeast Asia. In the Peace Corps Lawrence is assigned to build a bridge for the local villagers, working with two other PCVs: Washington State University graduate Tom Tuttle (John Candy) and the beautiful, down-to earth . . .

How The Mistakes Were Made Tyler McMahon (El Salvador 1999-02) St. Martin’s Press 342 pages $14.99 (paperback), $26.99 (hardcover), $9.99 (Kindle) October 2011 Reviewed by Tony D’Souza (Ivory Coast 2000-02, Madagascar 2002-03) TYLER MCMAHON HAS TAPPED the history of underground rock music and its most tragic players to craft a moving tale of art, fame, passion, love, and the blind drive to leave a legacy no matter the cost to the artist during his or her lifetime. Centering on the rise of the fictional “The Mistakes,” a two-man, one-woman grunge band at the forefront of the early ’90’s Pacific Northwest music revolution, How The Mistakes Were Made‘s double entendre title perfectly describes what the novel is about: the rise of the band from obscurity to worldwide fame, but also the literal mistakes made by the band members as they explore love with one another. Ultimately, the life-mistakes they make as . . .