New books by Peace Corps writers — May 2018
The David Edmonds book's title is actually "The Heretic of Granada". The reference is to the colonial city of Granada,…
To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com — Click on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance from your purchase that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards.
We are now including a one-sentence description — provided by the author — for the books listed here in hopes of encouraging readers 1) to order the book and 2) to volunteer to review it. See a book you’d like to review for Peace Corps Worldwide? Send a note to Marian at peacecorpsworldwide@gmail.com, and we’ll send you a copy along with a few instructions.
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Jamie’s Muse
by Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996-98)
Nighthawk Press
May 11, 2018
248 pages
$15.00 (paperback)
The lost history of Bonnie Lee Black’s Scottish great-grandmother, Helen, has haunted the author for years. Why, as young newlyweds, did Helen and William Black leave their hometown, Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland, and immigrate to the “dark continent” of Africa in 1882? Black’s deep spiritual connection to her ancestor has inspired her to weave a tale that is part fantasy and part history.
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Global Adventures on Less Traveled Roads
James R. Bullington (PC/CD Niger 2000-06)
CreateSpace
334 pages
January 2017
$19.95 Paperback, $5.99 Kindle
This autobiographical memoir traces Foreign Service Officer Jim Bullington’s journey along less-traveled roads from redneck roots to a career as a diplomat and U.S. Ambassador.
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Adventures in Service with the Peace Corps in Niger
James R. Bullington (PC/CD Niger 2000-06)
CreateSpace
232 pages
November 2007
$16.95 Paperback
This book recounts the experience of the author, a retired Foreign Service Officer and Ambassador, as Peace Corps director in Niger from 2000 to 2006, leading and supporting 430 Volunteers
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The Heretic of Granad
David C. Edmonds (Chile 1963–65)
Southern Yellow Pine
April 2018
358 pages
$18.95 (paperback)
Father Antonio wasn’t the first priest to take up with a beautiful Indian girl on a secluded island near Granada, Nicaragua, or to have a library of banned books, but it’s too much for the Church when he tries to protect an Indian holy site from zealots who want to destroy it.
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To Save an Empire: A Novel of Ottoman
Allan R. Gall (Turkey 1962-64)
Allan R. Gall – publisher
426 pages
March, 2018
$11.70 (paperback), $7.99 (Kindle)
TO SAVE AN EMPIRE explores the impact of religious and ethnic conflict in the Ottoman Empire of the late 19th century on the lives of ordinary people — Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Refugees flee atrocities that incite revenge, but also arouse charity and love.
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Our Woman in Havana: A Diplomat’s Chronicle of America’s Long Struggle with Castro’s Cuba
Vicki Huddleston (Peru 1964-66)
Overlook Press
304 pages
March 2018
$29.95 (hard cover), $14.16 (Kindle)
Our Woman in Havana chronicles the past several decades of US-Cuba relations from the bird’s-eye view of State Department veteran and longtime Cuba hand Vicki Huddleston, our top diplomat in Havana under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush.
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Following her mother’s premature death, Anne Panning draws on decades of memory and experience as she pieces together the hard truths about her own past and her mother’s.
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Figures in a Landscape: People and Places
Paul Theroux(Malawi 1963-65)
Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin
May 2018
416 pages
$ 28.00 (hardback), $14.51 (paperback), $15.99 (Kindle)
In the spirit of his much-loved Sunrise with Seamonsters and Fresh Air Fiend, Paul Theroux’s latest collection of essays leads the reader through a dazzling array of sights, characters, and experiences, as Theroux applies his signature searching curiosity to a life lived as much in reading as on the road.
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The Vodka Diaries: A Peace Corps Volunteer’s Adventures in Russia
Richard Sayette (Russain Far East 1994–95)
Peace Corps Writers
May 2018
330 pages
$16.00 (paperback)
My experiences living with a Russian family, managing a business center catering to Russian entrepreneurs and running with and from the Mafia during this tumultuous period allowed me insight into the Russian soul and allowed me to examine my own, and between enjoying local celebrity status to being a suspected American spy, I had the opportunity to socialize with Russian and American politicians, various mafia organizations and Russians from all walks of life.
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The David Edmonds book’s title is actually “The Heretic of Granada”. The reference is to the colonial city of Granada, Nicaragua. Apparently some early copies had Granada misspelled on the cover. The title page has the correct spelling!