RPCV Writer Tom Corbett (India)

 

Tom Corbett (India 1966-68)

Tom Corbett (India 1966-68) is emeritus senior scientist and an affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he served as associate and acting director for a decade before his retirement. He received a doctorate in Social Welfare from the University of Wisconsin and taught various social policy and program evaluation courses there for many years. During his long academic and policy career he consulted with government at the local, state, and national levels including a stint in Washington D.C. where he helped develop President Clinton’s welfare reform legislation.

He has written dozens of articles and reports on poverty, social policy, and human services issues and given hundreds of talks across the nation on these topics. The author lives in Madison Wisconsin.

Our Grand Adventure: The trials and triumphs of India-44 is a just out, improved upon, re-release of an earlier Peace Corps work  It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time.

Ever wonder what the sitcom MASH would have looked like had it been based on Peace Corps in India rather than the war in Korea? This hilarious memoir captures great intentions gone awry during the ‘wild west’ days of Peace Corps in the 1960s. It is funny, sad, and inspiring at the same time. The volunteers discovered through sharing their stories that they were the big winners from this program. Though much improved now, the last version still got a 4.4 (out of 5) star rating from Amazon readers.

Tom Corbett other books are:

Browsing Through My Candy Store: Selected Reflections of a Policy Wonk!
By Tom Corbett (India 1966-68)
Xlibris Publisher
October 2014
332 pages $29.79 (Hardcover); $19.99 (Paperback)

Ouch, Now I Remember: Reflecting on an Earlier Time
By Tom Corbett (India 1966-68)
Xlibris Publisher
October 2015
367 pages
$4.99 (Kindle); $22.68 (Hardback); $18.99 (Paperback)

The Boat Captain’s Conundrum A Whimsical Tour Through A Policy Wonk’s Mind
By Tom Corbett PHD (India 1966-68)
Xlibris Publisher
October 2016
372 pages
$3.99 (Kindle); $23.99 (Paperback)

Tenuous Tendrils
By Tom Corbett (India 1966-68)
Xlibris Publisher
May 2017
284 pages
$3.99 (Kindle); $19.99 (Paperback); $@9.99 (Hardcover)

Palpable Passions
By Tom Corbett (India 1966-68)
Papertown Publishing
May 2018
532 pages
$4.99 (Kindle); $5.88 (Paperback); $36.19 (Hardcover)

Wayward Academic
By Tom Corbett (India 1966-68)
Hancock Press
July 2018
612 pages
$4.99 (Kindle); $25.99 (Hardcover); $15.99 (Paperback)

Confessions of a Clueless Rebel
By Tom Corbett (India 1966-68)
Hancock Press
July 2018
598 pages
$14.99 (Paperback); $24.99 (Hardcover)

Ordinary Obsessions
By Tom Corbett (India 1966-68)
Papertown Publishing
February 2019
646 pages
$0.99 (Kindle); $24.99 (Hardcover); $5.20 (Paperback)

It Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time
By Tom Corbett (India 1966-68)
Harcock Press
April 2020
590 pages
$4.61 (Kindle); $4.67 (Paperback); $24.99 (Hardback)

Evidence-Based Policymaking
by Karen Bogenschneider & Thomas J. Corbett (India 1966-68)
Minded Policymakers
April 2021
408 pages

Felicitous Fates
By Tom Corbett (India 1966-68)
Papertown Publisher
May 2021
450 pages $4.99 (Kindle); $15.74 (Hardcover); $9.59 (Paperback)

A Wayward Academic: Reflections from the policy trenches
By Tom Corbett (India 1966-68)
Papertown Digital Solutions
Oct 2021
519 pages
$10.59 (paperback), $1.99 (Kindle)

Choices
By Tom Corbett (India 1966-68)
Papertown Digital Solutions
February 2022
544 pages
$14.99 (Paperback)

Our Grand Adventure: The trials and triumphs of India-44
By Tom Corbett (India 1966-68)
Papertown Digital Solutions
June 2022
540 pages
$15.99 (paperback)

3 Comments

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  • It not only “seemed like a good idea at the time”, it was a good idea, and still is. The need for community level development and opportunities around the world remain enormous, and the need for America’s people to care, give their best and make good things happen in communities around the world remains unlimited. Thank our lucky stars and PC’s dedicated and determined staff, that the post-pandemic Peace Corps has restarted in nine countries and it is growing.
    I have ordered Tom Corbett’s book to see what his insights are.

  • Love Corbett’s self-deprecating humor and his opening chapter refreshing the readers on the state of our society and country in the 1950s and early ’60s is a good read.. More later as I get into the chapters on their role in India.

  • I completed the book–it is well worth reading, mostly for the very thoughtful reflections by the India 44 RPCVs which arose at reunions (starting in 2009, forty years after their PC service in Rajasthan & Maharashtra) focusing, not on all the problems of India, rather on:
    a) some of the positive achievements, however small, each of them made in their PCV assignments,
    b) how much the PC/India experience changed their lives and forced them to become better people
    c) the many achievements and progress India has made since 1969
    d) Near unanimous opinion that PC “seemed like a good idea at the time” AND STILL IS!!!!!

    The narrative is sweetened with a variety of personal India anecdotes, lots of inter-group banter, only occasional gripes about the PC administration and a bit more than enough tales of romantic/sexual misadventures. All in all, a good read. Corbett is a good writer with significant skills in drawing lessons and conclusions from a wide variety of trends, events and PCV experiences.

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