Search Results For -2009 books

Allen W. Fletcher was born in Worcester, Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard in 1969. He served in Senegal as a Communi ty Development Volunteer. Returning home, he earned a Master’s Degree in Architecture at the University of California at Berkeley (1984) and worked as a general contractor/designer/builder in Northern California. Recently he returned home and founded Worcester Publishing Ltd., publisher of several local newspapers and magazines. He is also an instructor at Boston Architectural College. His  “Peace Corps stories” are published in this beautiful edition by his company, Worcester Publishing, and Lawrence F. Lihosti (Honduras 1975-77) has given it a glowing review. Take a look! • Heat, Sand, and Friends by Allen W. Fletcher (Senegal 1969–71) Worcester Publishing Ltd. 2009 158 pages $15.00 Reviewed by Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975–77) Allen W. Fletcher has written and published an extraordinary account of his service and in so doing, bears witness. Rather than write . . .

An interview by John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962-64) At 23, in 2000, Matt Davis as a PCV went to a remote western Mongolian mountain town to teach English at a local college. What he found when he arrived was a town — and a country — undergoing change from a traditional, countryside existence to a more urban, modern identity. The story of his Peace Corps years is told in When Things Get Dark which is scheduled for publication in 2010. Matt’s book is not only about the Mongolians he meets but his own downward spiral into alcohol abuse and violence — a scenario he saw played out by many of the Mongolian men around him who were having a difficult time adjusting to the rapid change in society. Matt’s own struggles eventually culminate in a drunken fight with three Mongolian men that forces him to a Mongolian hospital to have his kidneys . . .

[Reporter  Melissa Heckscher of the Daily Breeze newspaper  in California just published this article on RPCV mystery writer John Shannon that I thought you’d like to read.] John Shannon’s (Malawi 1965–67) latest mystery thriller, Palos Verdes Blue, is about a private detective who finds himself caught in a race-fueled turf war on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. John may specialize in fiction, but San Pedro-born novelist Shannon is as much a journalist as he is a mystery writer. To research each of his 11 Jack Liffey mystery novels, Shannon dove into the underbellies of Los Angeles, exploring topics ranging from the sex trade in Koreatown to the riots in South Central. So while his stories are fictional, their backdrops are often based on stark realities. “Almost all of my books have some underlying factual basis,” said Shannon, 65, whose most recent work turns the spotlight on the South Bay. “I thought, ‘If I’m going to keep . . .

A new publication from Quito, Ecuador, is out with a scholarly look at the writings of Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador 1965–67). It is the online publication LiberArte, from the Universidad de San Francisco de Quito. Contributors to LiberArte are primarily professors and students at the university. The journal, first published in January, 2005, features articles on literature, film, and critical trends in Ecuador. Last year there was a conference on Thomsen’s writing held in Quito. If you are interested in any reports from that conference, contact Martin Vega (vegamart@gmail.com) Martin also welcomes comments and critiques of Thomsen from those who knew him. I asked Martin if he knew Moritz and he said he didn’t, but that Alvaro Aleman, who heads up their journal, did know Moritz and often visited him in Guayaquil and spoke with him at length about authors and books. [Thomsen, for those who don’t know, died of cholera in Guayaquil, Ecuador on . . .

Triumph & Hope is reviewed by Bob Arias. Bob has had a long history with the Peace Corps, first as a PCV 1964-66, then at the Puerto Rico Training Center 1966-68; as an APCD in Colombia 1966-68; then Special Assistant to the Director, ACTION 1976-77, CD in Argentina-Uruguay, 1993-95, and finally as a consultant to the Peace Corps Safety and Security Office 2002-03. Triumph & Hope: Golden Years With The Peace Corps in Honduras by Barbara Joe (Honduras 2000–03) BookSurge December 2008 316 pages $18.99 Best new non-fiction finalist, National Indie Excellence Awards Reviewed by Bob Arias (Colombia 1964–66) There’s more than triumph and hope going on here, this is a complete “journal” of life as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Central American country of Honduras!  Barbara believes she is telling you the story of her success and failures as a senior citizen in this lush banana country, when in reality she is describing what most . . .

In August of 2008 Darcy Munson Meijer (Gabon 1982-84) moved to Abu Dhabi with her husband and two of her children, boys ages 7 and 8, to begin  a three-year teaching contract at Zayed University, an all-female institution. She went to work in the Academic Bridge Program that prepares the women to do university coursework full-time in English. Darcy explains the reason for this essay . . . It started at the annual party hosted by one of my fellow Gabon RPCVs in St. Croix last summer — this desire to set people straight about life in Abu Dhabi. While my friends were sharing stories and gossip in the corps de garde, conversation turned to the birqa that I would surely have to wear in the United Arab Emirates, where we to move shortly. You may already know that the surest way to get an American’s knickers in a wad is . . .

Roland Merullo (Micronesia 1979-80) has written a number of fine novels (Leaving Losapas, his Peace Corps novel), and since then novels on a wide range of topics, including golf (Golfing with God: A Novel of Heaven and Earth.) He is back with a new one, this on golf, travel, Italy and a lot more: The Italian Summer. Last year Roland took a long summer vacation with his wife and two daughters in northern Italy. Of the trip, Roland writes in his introduction, “Just the story of a slice of time in a beautiful place, where I had a lesson in living more slowly.” (Hey, Roland, you spent two years in Micronesia! Could anything possibly move slower than those islands?) There is a lot in this book, from writing about golf to long and leisurely dinners. You can get a great meal out of these beautifully written pages. Touchstone Books published The Italian Summer this spring. As they . . .

Ellen R. Sheeley was an early business PCV in Western Samoa from 1983 to 1985. Finishing her tour, she traveled home very slowly, circling the globe. Years later as a successful businesswoman, she happened to watch a television newscast that impassioned her. Ellen was kind enough to grant an electronic interview about her book Reclaiming Honor in Jordan: A National Public Opinion Survey On “Honor” Killings. She was interviewed by Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77) a  city planner who publishes books (travel & poetry)  as a hobby. [Larry:] What is an honor killing? [Ellen:] “Honor” killing is the murder of family for actual or perceived immoral sexual behavior. It is a misguided attempt to restore family honor. Immoral behavior could be rape (in which case the rape victim is murdered), extramarital or premarital intercourse, or even flirtation. “Honor” killing is believed to have its origins in misinterpretations of pre-Islamic Arab . . .

The Disappearance by RPCV Efrem Sigel came out several months ago from The Permanent Press, a company that had published a number of fine Peace Corps books. It is reviewed here by Leita Kaldi Davis who worked with Roma (Gypsies) for fifteen years before she became a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal. The Disappearance by Efrem Sigel (Ivory Coast 1965–67) Permanent Press February 2009 264 pages $28.00 Reviewed by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96) Joshua and Nathalie Sandler’s 14-year old son, Daniel, disappears one day from their summer home in a quiet New England town where Joshua is involved in the development of an upscale resort that earns him enemies among local citizens who view them as New York outsiders.  Anonymous threats result in the poisoning of Joshua’s partner’s dog and Joshua, sensing the town’s secrets and mysteries, suspects that his son’s disappearance might be a similar sinister warning.  What he . . .

Dr. David Espey (Morocco 1962-64) recently retired from the English Department at the University of Pennsylvania. He has not, however, retired from teaching and writing. David just finished a year as a visiting professor in Istanbul, where he had also previously taught on a Fulbright. (His other Fulbrights were to Morocco and Japan.) David is  the editor of Writing the Journey: Essays, Stories, and Poems on Travel published by Longman, and over the years has written extensively on travel writing. We are pleased to publish an essay by Dr. Espey on three memories by RPCVs who served in Turkey: Turkey: Bright Sun, Strong Tea [Travel Info Exchange 2005] by Tom Brosnahan (Turkey 1967–69); Village in the Meadows [Citlembik/Nettleberry Publications 2007] by Malcolm Pfunder (Turkey 1965–67); and An Ongoing Affair: Turkey and I [Citlembik/Nettleberry Publications 2008] by Heath W. Lowry (Turkey 1965–67). • • • Three Memoirs of Turkey Three books by Peace Corps Volunteers in Turkey return to the 1960s when . . .