Peace Corps writers

A Hint of Light by David L. Meth (Korea 1971–72) CreateSpace Writers’ Productions $14.95 303 pages August 2010 Reviewed by Barbara E. Joe (Honduras 2000–03) THIS NOVEL, REPORTEDLY WRITTEN by an award-winning playwright, chronicles the life of a black-Korean street boy, Byung-suk, born in 1960, who dreams of living in America, his unknown GI father’s home. Indeed, with its prolific dialogue and rapidly shifting graphic scenes, the book has aspects of a play or even of a film script. According to the cover blurb, the author, David Meth, spent years doing research, including in Korea and Japan. The narrative starts out with a bang, offering a gritty, dramatic tale of the squalor, violence, and unrelenting challenges of young Byung-suk’s struggle for survival in an Oliver Twistian underworld of prostitution, thievery, drunkenness, extortion, and physical deprivation. The early sections, depicting the tumultuous post-war era of the author’s Volunteer service in Korea . . .

Next week on this site we’ll be publishing a review of Lawrence Lihosit’s new book, Peace Corps Chronology: 1961–2010. The review is by P. David Searles (CD Philippines 197174; PC/W 1974-76) who writes of Lihosit’s book: “A lot can happen in fifty years, as demonstrated by Lawrence F. Lihosit’s superb book: Peace Corps Chronology, 1961-2010. Lihosit has carefully sifted through an immense cache of Peace Corps data from a wide variety of sources, some of which are familiar and some of which were previously unknown, at least to me. In the book he gives a detailed account of the critical happenings – year by year, decade by decade – from 1961 to the present.” In anticipation of David’s review, I emailed Larry a few questions about why he undertook the task of doing all of this research on the agency. Here’s what he had to say. What is Peace Corps . . .

Thoreau the Land Surveyor by Patrick Chura (Lithuania 1992-94) University Press of Florida $34.95 212 pages October 2010 Reviewed by Mike Tidwell (Zaire 1985–87) MOST OF US WOULD LIKE TO BELIEVE HENRY DAVID THOREAU was as pure in his personal life as the natural world he extolled in books like Walden and The Maine Woods. But the man supported his writing habit by working as a land surveyor, actually laboring for some of the same companies who clear-cut the woods around Walden Pond and built the railroads that hastened the industrial dominance he so detested. Yet somehow author Patrick Chura makes sense of all these contradictions while creating another improbability: a scholarly book that’s as beautiful as it is unput-downable. Chura is himself the son of a land surveyor. He accompanied his dad on many surveying outings in and around St. Louis, Missouri during the 1970s and 80s. He is . . .

Over the last several years, authors Angene Wilson & Jack Wilson (Liberia 1962–64) interviewed Returned Peace Corps Volunteers from Kentucky,  and this coming March, 2011, the University of Kentucky Press will publish: Voices From The Peace Corps: Fifty Years of Kentucky Volunteerswith a Foreword by Senator Christopher Dodd (Dominican Republic 1966–68). Recently I emailed Angene and Jack and asked them about their book and how it all came about. This is what they had to say. • Angene and Jack — why did you decide to do the book? Actually we decided to do the interviews first.  In spring 2004 I — Angene — was retiring after 29 years as a professor at the University of Kentucky, and looking for a new project. Jack was already retired. Both Jack and I were Liberia I volunteers and he was staff in Sierra Leone and Washington and then Director in Fiji and . . .

Country Driving: A Journey Though China From Farm to Factoryby Peter Hessler (China 1996-98) made the The New York Times Book Review(December 5, 2010) list of 100 notable books for the year. This book, the third of Hessler’s “China books,” chronicles the effects of an expanding road network on the rapidly changing lives of individual Chinese.

From Microsoft to Malawi: Learning on the Front Lines as a Peace Corps Volunteer (memoir) by Michael L. Buckler (Malawi, 2006–08) Hamilton Books $19.95 228 pages November 2010 www.FromMicrosofttoMalawi.com Reviewed by Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras, 1975-77) FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN CURRENT AFRICAN AFFAIRS, this is the book for you. Another valuable addition to Peace Corps Experience literature, it was written and published only two years after the author hugged his African family and returned. Not a timid soul, Michael L. Buckler describes his home in Malawi, and explores several controversial topics such as the overlap of services offered by the Peace Corps and non-governmental agencies, the U.S. foreign aid package, American subsidies and their effect upon other nations, Volunteer use of anti-depressants and Volunteer sexual debauchery. He does something else that reminded me of the infamous postcard incident so long ago. He published a book with an unflattering portrait of . . .

Last week it was George Packer (Togo 1982-84) in the pages of The New Yorker. This week (December 6, 2010), Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan 1996-97), who wrote about his brief Peace Corps tour in Chasing the Sea: Lost Among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asia, has a long, long piece (what else would be in The New Yorker?) entitled “A Simple Medium” that focuses on Chuck Lorre who produces sitcoms like “Two and a Half Men.” Bissell is the author of five books, including  Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, which orginated with a New Yorker piece published in 2008. My guess is that with this current piece in the magazine Tom has one-third of his next book already written. [Extra Lives was reviewed by Bruce Schlein (Papua New Guinea 1990–92; Bosnia 1996; PC/Staff/DC 2003–05) earlier this year. Check is out at: https://peacecorpsworldwide.org/review-extra-lives/ ]

Mark Brazaitis is the author of The Other Language: Poems, winner of the 2008 ABZ Poetry Prize. He is also the author of The River of Lost Voices: Stories from Guatemala, winner of the 1998 Iowa Short Fiction Award, and Steal My Heart, the novel that won the 2001 Maria Thomas Fiction Award given by Peace Corps Writers. Brazaitis served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala from 1990 to 1993 and as a Peace Corps technical trainer in the same country from 1995 to 1996. Currently, he directs the Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program at West Virginia University. On December 7, 2010, Mark will be reading at the Kent State Student Center, Room 306, and answering questions about the Peace Corps! There’s a Facebook page for the reading: http://en-gb.facebook.com/event.php?eid=150186528348926&index=1 Check it out!

Often when an RPCV book is reviewed on this site and receives a negative review I get an angry email from the irate author who says something to the effect, “I wrote it, therefore, it is good!” Well, having published something like twenty-five books and received more than my ‘fair share’ of negative reviews, I can understand the feeling. But if a writer —  especially a ‘self-publishing writer — has the audacity (yes, audacity!) to publish anything and then put the book out into the market place for others to buy and read, then, well, they have to suffer the slings and arrows, and perhaps praise, for what they wrote. That’s what publishing is all about. But if you are George W. Bush and you write your memoir and it gets into the hands of George Packer (Togo 1982–83) to review it for The New Yorker . . . well, watch out. Packer does a . . .

Learn Thai With Me by RJ Huddy (Morocco 1981–82) XPat Fiction $12.00 (free to read online) 224 pages 2010 Reviewed by Thomas Coyne (Morocco 1981–82) SAUDI ARABIA IS A HARD PLACE TO WRITE ABOUT. The western mind gets easily distracted by such cultural flash points as hijabs and theocracies. The Saudi sensibility seems clannish; not so interested in advertising its lifestyle to the rest of the world. So surprise, Learn Thai With Me, the second novel from RJ Huddy, (a nom de plume of a Moroccan RPCV) is a rare example evoking the Saudi Arabia of the 1980’s. Of course, this is really a book about Americans — Degenerates Abroad perhaps — and not so much about Saudis or Thais. There are some other caveats. For one thing, Learn Thai With Me will not teach you much — if any — Thai. In fact, we are given not a single . . .

Bill Stein (Niger 1990-93) President of the Columbia River Peace Corps Association sent out a notice on upcoming meetings with RPCV authors.  Bill and his group are supporting our writers. Thanks, Columbia River! Monday, December 6, 2010:  Tinker, Irene: Crossing Centuries: A Road Trip Through Colonial Africa (2010).  The website now contains transit directions to Irene Tinker’s home in the Mirabella Portland. Wednesday, January 12, 2011: Moritz  Thomsen (Ecuador 1965-67) Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle (1969).   Note that this book was earlier slated for discussion in February. Mid-February 2011 (date TBA): Peter Hessler (China 1996-98): River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (2001).  Peter Hessler will be at Powell’s City of Books on 2/15 reading from his latest book, Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory (2010), and he’s graciously offering to meet with us some time during his Portland visit that’s not booked by his publicist.  We’re . . .

Westport author David L. Meth [Korea 1971–72] reads from his new novel, “A Hint of Light,” at the Westport CT Public Library. Written by Nancy Burton for Patch.com When Westport writer David L. Meth was a Peace Corps volunteer in the early 1970s in Seoul, Korea, he “walked the streets” to pick up the cultural vibes. Now he has self published his first novel based on real characters who have haunted his psyche ever since. Meth gave a reading from his book, A Hint of Light, at the Westport Public Library on Monday, sharing passages of prose of sometimes exquisite piquancy. The main character is a street urchin named Byung-suk, who is 9 years old when the book opens. Byung-suk is the product of a tryst involving a Korean prostitute and a black American soldier stationed in Seoul. Byung-suk’s mother died in an alleyway during childbirth and he grows up a . . .

Visions of Place: Regionalism and Architecture Edited and co-authored by William Bechhoefer (Tunisia 1967–69) plus colleagues and former students University of Maryland School of Architecture, Preservation, and Planning $17.95 + $4.00 shipping (contact RoseMarie Tate rtate@umd.edu) 191 pages May, 2010 • Controlled Crash: An Airline Odyssey from Eels and Ethics to Blimps and Drunken Bears by Eldon Brown (Gabon 1962–63; Jamaica 1963–65) iUniverse $14.95 148 pages 2009 • From Microsoft to Malawi: Learning on the Front Lines as a Peace Corps Volunteer (Peace Corps experience) by Michael Buckler (Malawi 2006–08) Hamilton Books $19.95 228 pages November 2010 www.FromMicrosofttoMalawi.com • La Ranfla and Other New Mexico Stories (new paperback edition) by Martha Egan (Venezuela 1967–69) Papalote Press $15.00 200 pages November 2010 • A Wedding in Samar: A Memoir of an Early Peace Corps Experience, Philippines 1961–1963 by John Francis Halloran (Philippines 1962–63) Edited and introduced by John Durand (Philippines 1962–63) . . .

RECENTLY I INTERVIEWED STANLEY MEISLER, the author of  the forthcoming book When The World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and its First Fifty Years. (The book will be published in February but you can go on-line now to Amazon.com and order your copy.) I asked  Meisler in this season of thanksgiving to give his view of agency, and asked him what he learned doing his research for this important book. Here is what Stan had to say. From the advantage points of time and distance how would you sum up the value (if any) of the Peace Corps? The Peace Corps has created an incredible resource of 200,000 Americans who know the developing world intimately. Take Africa, for example. In 1960, who in the US knew anything about Africa? Some missionaries. Some academics. When the Peace Corps was starting, I received a phone call from Berea College. They were going to train . . .

Emerging Africa: How 17 Countries Are Leading The Way by Steven Radelet (Western Samoa 1981–83) Center for Global Development $18.75; Kindle $9.99 169 pages 2010 Reviewed by Shlomo Bachrach (Ethiopia PC Staff  1966–68) It’s nice to come across a book that takes an optimistic view of Africa, where the usual account of famine, coups and ethnic violence is replaced by evidence of improving governance and growing economies. Steve Radelet, in Emerging Africa: How 17 Countries Are Leading The Way, makes the case for optimism that since the 1990s, development is taking hold in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In these seventeen countries, and six more on the threshold, “it was the interplay between economic reform and political change that ignited the change.” Radelet divides SSA into three groups: Emerging and Threshold countries, Oil Exporters and Other Non-Oil Exporters. Until the mid 1990s, there was little to distinguish these countries. Signs of economic . . .