Ken Rutherford Played a Key Role with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Now He Looks at How Mines Were First Widely Deployed.
America’s Buried History Landmines in the Civil War By Kenneth Rutherford Savas Beatie Reviewed by Nathalie Vadnais and Steven Boyd Saum Illustration from the cover of America’s Buried History There are tens of millions of land mines buried in dozens of countries around the world. Each year thousands of civilians are maimed and killed by them — despite the 1997 treaty to ban antipersonnel mines, an agreement to which 164 countries are party. Political scientist Ken Rutherford, who served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mauritania 1987–89, knows firsthand how cruel those weapons can be. While working for the International Rescue...
What Happens When Diplomats Fail to Understand the History of Nations Where They Serve — from the Perspective of the People in Those Nations?
History Shock When History Collides with Foreign Relations By John Dickson University of Kansas Press Reviewed by Nathalie Vadnais John Dickson gleans insights from 25 years as a foreign service officer, much of which included hard lessons that came from not having a deeper knowledge of a host country’s history. That leads time and again to what he terms “history shock,” wherein dramatically different interpretations of history have blocked diplomatic understanding and cooperation. Dickson served with the Peace Corps in Gabon 1976–79 before joining the U.S. Information Agency in 1984; he later served with the State Department when the two...
Understanding New Diasporas and Transnationality Through the Voices of African Immigrants to Kentucky
Voices of African Immigrants in Kentucky Migration, Identity, and Transnationality By Francis Musoni, Iddah Otieno, Angene Wilson, and Jack Wilson University Press of Kentucky Reviewed by Steven Boyd Saum The heart of this book is based on oral history interviews with nearly 50 Africa-born immigrants in Kentucky — of which there are now more than 22,000. From a former ambassador from The Gambia to a pharmacist from South Africa, from a restaurant owner from Guinea to a certified nursing assistant from the Democratic Republic of Congo, every immigrant has a unique and complex story of their life experiences and the decisions...
Some 2,000 Peace Corps Volunteers Served in Korea. They Have Also Helped Shape the Study of That Nation in the United States.
Peace Corps Volunteers and the Making of Korean Studies in the United States Edited by Seung-kyung Kim and Michael Robinson Center for Korea Studies, University of Washington Reviewed by Steven Boyd Saum The Peace Corps sent more than 2,000 Volunteers to South Korea 1966–81, to teach English and advise on healthcare. “Their experiences affected their worldview, individual politics, aesthetic sensibilities, and views on gender discrimination,” notes the introduction to this anthology. Those experiences also fueled scholarship on Korea in the States. A small yet significant number of the Volunteers returned to the U.S. and entered academia, forming the core of...
A Tenth Anniversary Edition of Voices from the Peace Corps: Fifty Years of Kentucky Volunteers
Voices from the Peace Corps Fifty Years of Kentucky Volunteers By Angene Wilson and Jack Wilson University Press of Kentucky Review by Steven Boyd Saum A decade ago, Angene and Jack Wilson published Voices from the Peace Corps. Now comes a tenth anniversary edition with a foreword by National Peace Corps Association President and CEO Glenn Blumhorst. This is a very different time. As the new edition was released in 2021, there were no Volunteers in service overseas. Some were serving across the U.S. in partnership with FEMA on community vaccination efforts; others were taking part in virtual volunteering with partners around the...
President’s Letter: Time of Hope, Time of Crisis
Volunteers have begun to return to service. Yet millions in Ukraine are now in harm’s way. By Glenn Blumhorst This is a hopeful time for the Peace Corps: On March 14, a group of Volunteers arrived in Lusaka, Zambia. Just over a week later, on March 23, Volunteers arrived in the Dominican Republic. They are the first to return to service overseas since March 2020, when Volunteers were evacuated from around the globe because of COVID-19. The contributions of Volunteers serving in Zambia will include partnering with communities to focus on food security and education, along with partnering on efforts...
Peace Corps Volunteers Have Begun Returning Overseas
After a send-off from First Lady Dr. Jill Biden at the White House, Volunteers headed for Zambia and the Dominican Republic in March. Here are the 24 countries they will be returning to first. More are being added this spring. By NPCA Staff Photo courtesy Peace Corps Zambia Two years after all Peace Corps Volunteers were brought home from service overseas because of COVID-19, Volunteers are returning to posts around the world. On March 14, the first group of Volunteers arrived in Zambia. On March 23, Volunteers arrived in the Dominican Republic — the second group to return to...
As a Child, She Fled Nazi Germany with Her Family. Two Decades After the War, She Was a Chemist Teaching at a University in Lagos with the Peace Corps.
My Years in the Early Peace Corps Nigeria, 1964–1965 (Volume 1) Ethiopia, 1965–1966 (Volume 2) By Sonja Krause Goodwin Hamilton Books Reviewed by Steven Boyd Saum Sonja Krause Goodwin had already traveled far from home, earned a doctorate in chemistry, and worked for six years as a physical chemist when she joined the Peace Corps. Born in St. Gall, Switzerland, in August 1933, she had fled Nazi Germany with her family and resettled in Manhattan, where her parents opened a German bookstore. Sonja entered elementary school without speaking a word of English. Science is where she found her calling....
How People Experience Idealism, Why It Dies, and Why That Matters
The Death of Idealism Development and Anti-Politics in the Peace Corps By Meghan Elizabeth Kallman Columbia University Press Reviewed by Steven Boyd Saum You might surmise from its title that this is not a book that casts the Peace Corps experience in a particularly rosy light. You would be right, sort of. But Meghan Elizabeth Kallman is not trying to argue that the Peace Corps is good or bad. Rather, she writes, “The questions of how people experience idealism, why it dies, and why that matters are the central puzzle of this book.” Kallman is an assistant professor at the School...
Michael E. O’Hanlon Has Counseled ‘Resolute Restraint’ in an Age of Peace. But Has That Age Come to an End?
The Art of War in an Age of Peace U.S. Grand Strategy and Resolute Restraint By Michael E. O’Hanlon Yale University Press Reviewed by Steven Boyd Saum Published last year, Michael E. O’Hanlon’s most recent volume of strategy recommendations for U.S. global engagement has a title that’s been overtaken by events: In this “age of peace,” Russia has launched the largest invasion of another country since World War II. The gist of O’Hanlon’s counsel is “resolute restraint” with “an equal emphasis on both words.” That means avoiding overextension without retrenchment; either would make the world less stable and more...