For Years, Sarah Chayes Told U.S. Leaders in Afghanistan Truths They Did Not Want to Hear About Corruption. Now She Looks at What Is Corroding Democracy at Home.
On Corruption in America And What Is at Stake By Sarah Chayes Penguin Random House Reviewed by Steven Boyd Saum Back in 2015, when Sarah Chayes published Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security, she gave an interview in which she warned: “As far as Afghanistan is concerned, I think the window of opportunity to exert real leverage on governance and corruption is closed ... We had more than a decade, and we squandered a remarkable moment in history.” In August 2021, as the United States executed a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban returned to power, Chayes...
In ‘Last Best Hope,’ George Packer Seeks to Find a Way for Americans to Talk with Each Other Again
Last Best Hope America in Crisis and Renewal By George Packer Farrar, Straus and Giroux Reviewed by Marnie Mueller George Packer’s Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal is a self-described political pamphlet in long-form essay, not unlike Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, written in a period of change, about that very change. Packer’s goal is to find a way Americans can talk with each other again. A modest aim — but in this post-Trump era, perhaps an insurmountable task. Packer addresses what James Baldwin described as our tangled American problem: “In the same way that to become a social human being...
A Memoir of a Journey from a Farming Village in Togo to Study in the U.S. And a Tribute to a Father Who Was Orphaned Before the Age of Two.
From Orphan to Greatness An African Story By Pierre Komi T. Adade Page Publishing “All his life, my father has done everything he could to help his children succeed,” writes Pierre Komi T. Adade. “As he likes to tell us, ‘My main goal in life is to help you succeed whatever the cost so you won’t have to suffer the way I did. I wasn’t fortunate enough to have someone help me.’ Yes, indeed, his life story has been full of tough experiences that bring him to tears whenever he talks about them. My father lost both his parents...
A Humble Man Who Believes There Is Good in Humanity and Is Committed to Justice
American Dreamer Memoirs of a Peace Corps Volunteer in Central America and Beyond By David Taylor Ives Epigraph Publishing Reviewed by Jim Skelton Decades before David Taylor Ives took on responsibilities as the executive director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute of Quinnipiac University, he served as a Volunteer in Costa Rica 1980–82. Included in this first-person chronicle, anchored by that experience, is a foreword by Leymah Gbowee and an introduction by Muhammad Yunus, both Nobel Peace Prize laureates. They introduce Ives as a humble man who believes there is good in humanity and is committed to justice. Ives grew up in Pierpont, Ohio, a...
In Papua New Guinea, Seeking to Understand Community — and an Act of Horrific Violence
The Tin Can Crucible A Firsthand Account of Modern-day Sorcery Violence By Christopher Davenport Lume Books Reviewed by Leo Cecchini The Tin Can Crucible is a fascinating account of how Christopher Davenport is inculcated into the customs, morals, values, and way of life in a village where he trains for his teaching assignment in Papua New Guinea, where he served as a Volunteer 1994–96. He documents the process that leads him to comply with the customs of his new family. The process is so complete that Davenport comes to accept what would be in his previous life a reprehensible act: After a...
A Guide to Help Teachers to Shift the Framework for Understanding the Corps of Discovery Expedition
Teaching Critically About Lewis and Clark Challenging Dominant Narratives in K–12 Curriculum By Alison Schmitke, Leilani Sabzalian, Jeff Edmundson Teachers College Press Shifting the framework for understanding the Corps of Discovery expedition is the goal of this guide, which brings Indigenous perspectives and contemporary issues to the task of reshaping how teachers approach the expedition’s history and legacy. Co-author Leilani Sabzalian, who is Alutiiq, served as a Volunteer in Paraguay 2004–06. At the University of Oregon she is assistant professor of Indigenous Studies in Education and co-directs the Sapsik’wałá Program, which addresses the critical need for American Indian and Alaska...
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...