Peace Corps writers

A Year on the Bus by Dan Close (Ethiopia 1966-68) Warren, VT: Tamarac Press $15.00 131 pages 2010 Reviewed by Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963-65) THIS IS A SMALL BOOK THAT DESERVES  a short, but positive review. In the space of 131 small pages, with a slightly larger than usual font, the author convinced me that this is a good book for a lot of folks. Have you ever been “caught” behind a school bus when you have to get somewhere fast? he asks. Are you, or  have you ever been, a school bus driver? Are you the parent of a kid on a school bus? Were you ever a kid on a bus? If any of these questions are you, then, this book is for you. And, I’ll add, if you know a school bus driver, give him or her a copy. If only for laughs, because this is a . . .

Runes of Iona by Robert Balmanno (Benin 1973-75) Regent Press $15.95 349 pages August 2010 Reviewed by Paul Shovlin (Moldova 1996-98) THE SECOND BOOK in the Blessings of Gaia series by Robert Balmanno, Runes of Iona, is in print, and, like the first, it’s far-ranging and ambitious. The series began with September Snow which followed the protagonist Tom Novak, an author, philosopher, freedom fighter, as he worked with September Snow to disable the climate controlling wind machines of the Gaia-domes. In Runes of Iona, the machines are down and nature is slowly returning to something like normal, but little has changed in terms of the power of the Gaia-domes and their domination of the world. The second book follows Iona Snow and Kull, a freed slave, as they build a guerrilla army for the expressed purposes of dismantling the current power structure and toppling the dictatorship of the Gaia-dome government. . . .

The Man Who Caught No Birds by Thomas Burns (Marshall Islands 1976–78) CreateSpace 201 pages $15.00 2010 Reviewer Reilly Ridgell (Micronesia 1971–73) WHEN I WRITE STORIES SET IN MICRONESIA where I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer, all my main characters are American.  Host country nationals are often peripheral or secondary characters because my stories are ultimately about how Americans relate to the culture and lifestyle of the host country. For myself — though someday I might try — I feel uncomfortable putting a Micronesian as a main character because I don’t feel confident that I can accurately portray his or her aspirations, moods, thought processes, etc. As much as we get to know the culture, language, and people of the countries where we are stationed, we’re still Americans and we still view their world through American eyes. Thomas Burns has written a novel set in the Marshall Islands where . . .

KEN AULETTA HAS WRITTEN the “Annals of Communications” columns for The New Yorker since 1992, and is the author of eleven books, including five national bestsellers. His latest, Googled: The End of The World As We Know It, chronicles the ubiquitous company’s rise to prominence. Among Ken’s other books are: Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way; Greed And Glory On Wall Street: The Fall of The House of Lehman; and Media Man: Ted Turner’s Improbable Empire. In ranking him as America’s premier media critic, the Columbia Journalism Review concluded, “no other reporter has covered the new communications revolution as thoroughly as has Auletta.” He has been chosen a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library, and one of the 20th Century’s top 100 business journalists by a distinguished national panel of peers. Auletta grew up on Coney Island, attended public schools, earned a B.S. from . . .

The Chronicle of Sargent Shriver  By Thomas Hebert (Nigeria 1962-64) Unlike the death of John or Robert Kennedy, Elvis Presley, the beginning of the 1968 North Vietnamese Tet Offensive, or the Watergate Break-in, I confess I can’t remember where I was when I learned of Sargent Shriver’s death. It’s taken some days for this passage to sink in, become knowable. But it comes back. You see, in an earlier time, I wrote a bit of something about this American and his contributions to our life. My words appear in a long-ago Job Application and a writing sample, below, which I included with it. The position: The National Chronicler (Senior Executive Service, by Presidential Appointment). Closing date: June  15, 1995. Unfortunately that Clinton-era initiative never went beyond seeking applicants. It was quickly submerged in Republican assaults on the Administration. Few remember the story. (The entire annotated Position Description will be published . . .

A Longing for Wisdom: One Woman’s Conscience and Her Church by Patricia S. Taylor Edmisten (Peru 1962–64) iUniverse, Inc. $13.95 117 pages 2010 Reviewed by Paula Hamilton (NPCV) PATRICIA S. TAYLOR EDMISTEN’S BOOK resonated with me — as I think it will with other Catholic women searching for their place in the Catholic Church of the 21st century. Like her, I was born into a Catholic family, educated in Catholic schools through college, have numerous friends who are priests, and love my Church. Also like her, I struggle with the dictates and the behavior of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, especially in their refusal to understand that we, women and the laity generally, are the Church. The author articulates her views through numerous genre of literature:  memoirs, poems, stories, passages of scripture, and essays, many written earlier in her life. They express a unifying theme: a growing discomfort resulting . . .

Hope in the Midst of Tragedy: Reflections on Tucson by Collin Tong (Thailand 1968–69) THE TRAGIC EVENTS LEADING TO THE JAN. 8th rampage near Tucson, Ariz., that left six killed, and 14 wounded, and Representative Gabrielle Giffords, 40, in critical condition, left me shaken. Twenty-nine years ago, on Jan. 28, 1982, my older brother lost his life in the same manner, also by a deranged gunman, who happened to be his client.  It was deeply ironic, yet nonetheless tragic that Roland, a civil rights attorney who devoted much of his life to serving others, in East Harlem and then San Francisco, should lose his life in the act of helping others. At the time of his death, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy penned this letter to me:  “The news article describing your brother’s long record of service to others in need was brought to my attention by Jerry Tinker on my . . .

 Yesterday I wrote about Peace Corps Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, a research psychiatrist, who wrote (among other books) The Insanity Offense and who had been a Peace Corps doctor (Ethiopia 1964-66) and married to an RPCV, Barbara Boyle (Tanzania 1963-65). Fuller was quoted in an op-ed piece in the New York Times. That reminded me that back in 2001 Peace Corps Doctor Milt Kogan, who served in the Republic of Upper Volta from June 1970 to June 1972, sent me a copy of the 169 page, double spaced, typed, diary that he had kept of his experience in country in the early Seventies. He was the Peace Corps Physician in care of 70 Vols in the nation now known as Burkina Faso.[ It was renamed by President Thomas Sankara in 1984 to mean “the land of the upright people” in Mossi and Dioula, the major languages of the country.] Milt arrived in country . . .

The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick by Gene Stone (Niger 1974–76) Workman Publishing $23.95 www.secretsofpeople.com 212 pages October 2010 Reviewed by Robert E. Hamilton (Ethiopia 1965–67) IF YOU ARE INTERESTED in enhancing your own personal health but are not a zealot about it — that is, you are not a member of the “health nut choir” — read Gene Stone’s “Afterward” first. The zealots will buy and read this book for their own reasons. The rest of us, though, who drive cars but don’t read Road and Track magazine, who want to be healthier without purchasing a library of “how to” publications, will be particularly interested in Stone’s two observations in the “Afterward” which link the “health secrets” of the 25 people included in his book.  Stone says that his interviewees have been successful in staying healthy because they found an exercise or health practice which: (1) works . . .

The Nightingale of Mosul: A Nurse’s Journey of Service, Struggle, and War by Susan Luz (Brazil 1972–75) and Marcus Brotherton Kaplan Publishing 2010 243 pages $25.95 Reviewed by Susan O’Neill (Venezuela 1973–74) I PICKED UP THIS BOOK WITH TREPIDATION. The title seemed grandiose; the legend above it trumpeted: “From the daughter-in-law of George Luz Sr., one of the original Band of Brothers.” The blurbs on the back came from Brothers in that Band, a documentary producer specializing in WWII, and a Brigadier General. I thought, We’re selling patriotism here. As a Viet Nam veteran, I’m allergic to patriotism. So I was prepared to scoff. And when early pages featured faith in God’s will and prayer, my scoff-alert heightened. As a former Catholic, I’m allergic to Catholicism. Those disclaimers given, I will say that I was pleasantly surprised. This book, the autobiography of a woman who has lived life double-time in . . .

Following the lead of  Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975–77), who has for several years been campaigning for a “Peace Corps Collection” at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., we have enlisted the help and support of the Congressman from the 10 District of California, John Garamendi (Ethiopia 1965–67). Rallying around RPCV writers, Congressman Garamendi wrote to Dr. James Billington, Librarian of Congress, on December 17, 2010, asking that the Library mark  the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps by “establishing a collection of books about the Peace Corps written by former Peace Corps Volunteers and Peace Corps staff,” and to host a reception for them during the extended weekend of September 22nd–25th of 2011. Here is a PDF of Congressmen Garamendi’s letter to Dr. Billington. Thank you, Congressman Garamendi, and thank you Larry Lihosit!

Labeled by Mark Salvatore (Paraguay 1989–91) Create Space $9.99 $.99 ebook 231 pages 2010 Reviewed by Sharon Dirlam (Russian Far East 1996-98) HERE IS A COMING-OF-AGE STORY about a boy who doesn’t fit in anywhere and spends most of his time being stoned or drunk or otherwise in a less-than-lucid frame of mind. The rest of his time he spends trying to fit in, or rebelling against society, or berating himself for being inadequate and shy. Vinnie knows he’s smart. He has lots of interesting thoughts wafting through his mind: quotes from worthwhile books, lessons from mythology, memorized comments by admirable people. What he doesn’t have is any idea of what to do with the rest of his life or even with the moment at hand. The war in Vietnam is raging, high school sucks, the girl he likes rejects him. Life isn’t going well at all. People just don’t . . .

I put this video up last month but my friend Tom Hebert (Nigeria 1962-64) missed it–mostly because he doesn’t read the site–and he recently wrote me to say that he had just read the article in The New Yorker and that it was the finest piece about the Peace Corps he had ever read. He wanted me to post something about it, and I said I did, and he said that most people were like him and never got around to reading or watching the video and that I should post it again. Tom wrote: “John, given my propensity for procrastinating on things I am supposed to read, I hadn’t really finished the New Yorker piece until last night. One word: Wow! That article, to my mind, is the single most important article ever written about the Peace Corps.” Now, Tom is the type to nag me until I put up something, so to ‘cut him off . . .

A Wedding in Samar by John Halloran (Philippines 1962–64) Puzzlebox Press 2011 $16.95 Reviewer Reilly Ridgell (Micronesia 1971–73) A WEDDING IN SAMAR IS A MEMOIR by the late John Halloran published posthumously by a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, John Durand, who is the owner of Puzzlebox Press. Apparently Halloran started to write a novel while in-country, then became disillusioned with his own writing and gave up. Years later, when he was 63, he went back to his notes, and presumably his memory, and turned it into a memoir. I don’t know how good his novel would have been. But his memoir is excellent. Here is the Philippine’s Samar Island, just south of Luzon, and less than 20 years from the end of World War Two and the beginning of full independence.  Here is the Peace Corps only a couple of years in existence, depositing young Americans into Third World countries . . .