Liberia

  In Search of Pink Flamingos By Susan E. Greisen (Liberia 1971-73; Tonga 1973-74) Penchant Press International, LLC 247 pages 2020  $15.95 (paperback) Reviewed by Cynthia Mosca (Ethiopia 1967-69) • When a friend finds out I was in the Peace Corps, I often hear, “Oh, I thought about that. I even filled out the application.” Susan Greisen’s book, In Search of Pink Flamingos, is filled with heart-stopping adventures in Africa. She writes candidly of her journey from a strict Catholic upbringing on a farm in Nebraska to her new home in the small village of Zorgowee, Liberia. Susan is the only Peace Corps Volunteer and the only white person in this town of about a thousand people. Here she found affection and respect both of which were denied her in her Nebraska family home. I’m recommending her well-written book to all my friends, especially those who never sent in those . . .

  Living Liberia: Laughter, Love & Folly by Robert Cherry (Liberia1965–67) Living Liberia August 2017 $15.00 (paperback), $9.50 (Kindle) Reviewed by D.W. Jefferson (El Salvador 1974-76 and Costa Rica 1976-77). • Liberia is a fascinating little country. Founded by former slaves from the U.S., it is the oldest republic in Africa. This and much more I learned from reading Living Liberia by Robert Cherry. The primary narrative of this book tells the story of the author’s return visit to Liberia and his former Peace Corps site in 1982, 14 years after his service there from 1966-68. But it is also a memoir of his Peace Corps years serving as a teacher in an elementary school in the small, rural village of Kpaytuo. The author, a former journalist as well as a teacher, gives us a good deal of background about Liberian history along the way. Thus the book is a great resource . . .

  A Silhouette of Liberia — Photographs: 1974-1977 by Michael H.  Lee (Liberia 1974–76) Michael H. Lee August 2017 136 pages $59.99 (hardcover)   Reviewed by: Danielle Yoder (Panama 2012-2014) • A Silhouette of Liberia Photographs: 1974–1977 exhibits beautiful photography of Liberia’s landscape, architecture and people from a time when very little has been preserved. Mr. Lee walks us through his experience living, serving and working in Liberia. Through his lens he is able to capture what one might see in an ordinary day in Liberia, as well as intimate settings such as illusive secret societies and their traditions. Mr. Lee begins by providing some history of the country that informs both the conditions of the photographs shown from the mid-70s and also alludes to the impending civil war period. These shots show mostly friendly faces as well as typical living conditions and hardships born by denizens. I was surprised how . . .

  A Time That Was . . .: A Peace Corps Volunteer’s Experience of Pre-revolutionary Liberia, West Africa, 1962–1964 Philip S. Salisbury (Liberia 1962–64) Xlibris 2014 244 pages $19.99 (paperback), $29.99 (hard cover) Reviewed by Lee Reno (Liberia 1963–65) • A Time That Was . . . is an interesting and engaging read, particularly for PCVs who were in Liberia before the Liberian civil wars, and perhaps their children. A PCV in the first group of PCVs to Liberia in 1962, Salisbury writes in his introduction, In the pages that follow, I present a rewrite of my journal entries. Despite gaps in coverage, I made an effort to recall days that were written about. My purpose is to communicate the experiences, thoughts, and feelings of a twenty-two year-old who was encountering his first experience in an unknown culture as well as provide a sense of the services I rendered to the Peace . . .