How the Peace Corps survived shifts in geopolitics, the whims of presidents, massive global health crises, and even blowback from the RPCV community for 65 years.
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Stay UpdatedSpring/Summer 26 Issue
Hard Corps
In the decades since Peace Corps’ founding in 1961, its success has sparked a movement of service-based organizations, many of which have incorporated the word ‘corps’ into their name. The word “corps” itself has long carried associations of shared mission,…
When Caucasian Doesn’t Mean White
What a group of Georgian teenagers taught a Detroit-raised Volunteer about race, hierarchy, and the long shadow of Russian domination.
The Jeep Driver’s Son
A Peace Corps Volunteer’s son became the first Afghan to summit Everest and Denali—while helping build a ski culture in war-torn Afghanistan.
An Octopus Never Forgets
A handcrafted lure reveals how culture, story, and sustenance intertwine.
Once You’re In, You’re In
Carla Brown discusses how Peace Corps service isn’t just a chapter— it’s a through line. Now it’s time to put it to work at home.
Kinder-Resilient
VAVA'U, TONGA — The village of Tu'anuku ushered in a new era for early childhood education in early February, celebrating the soft opening of a brand-new, resilient kindergarten facility.
No Light. No Water. No Chance.
Without electricity or clean water, childbirth becomes a life-or-death gamble.
Peace Corps Forever
Take a look at what the Instagram account @pcvtattoos has been posting about Peace Corps-inspired tattoos since 2019.
From the Community
Peter Pan Syndrome
As young idealists, we penetrated local society and understood day-to-day life in ways that neither Foreign Service diplomats nor graduates with mere doctorates come close to. Now that we have…
RPCVs Addressing the Development Aid Gap
With drastic international aid reductions, RPCV programs can be a critical source of support in marginalized communities.
Carrying the Torch of Liberty
In the early 1960s, during the Pan American Games, a major international sporting event held every four years, my father was selected to carry the Torch of Liberty, an honor…
Closing the Door to Humanitarian Immigration
Over the past year and a half, drastic changes in government policy have affected millions of immigrants living in the United States, as well as countless others who held hopes…
Fall/Winter 2025-26 Issue
Literary Legacy
Some Peace Corps journals go on to have a much larger reach as they are transformed into compelling memoirs, fiction, and other stories published professionally and even climbing to the top of bestseller lists.
Bookstores Without Borders
Imagine you are living in the capital city of Guatemala. You need an escape, a place to find peace in your daily routine. In different countries, in different languages, bookstores create community through reading.
When a Picture Sells a Thousand Words
WorldView spoke with noted book designer Peter Mendelsund, creative director at The Atlantic magazine and author of multiple novels and cover design books, to understand the process of making a good cover, knowing it will be judged.
Helicopters and The Himalayan Gourmet Cookbook
When Diana Oppedal supported the Peace Corps medical office in Kathmand making house calls by helicopter to those in the most remote sites in the mountains, she never thought it would lead to publishing a cook book.
Born to Serve
Jason Carter, chair of the Carter Center board, reflects on his grandfather’s legacy, his experiences as an author, and his vision for the Carter Center as a new documentary about the effort to eradicate Guinea worm disease is released, and…
A Life Lived in Books
Dan Pelzer started recording every book he read in 1962, when he arrived in Dharan, Nepal, as a Peace Corps Volunteer. After he passed away on July 1, Marci posted her father’s meticulously handwritten record of the 3,599 books he…
A Backpack and a Blog
After travelling through 10 countries, NPCA Board Chair John Lee Evans see a Peace Corps that's thriving and urgently needed worldwide.
Reading Room: RPCV Book Clubs
For many, book clubs have become a doorway back to service, a place where returned Volunteers can feel the same spark of curiosity that once led them across oceans.
Snapshots of Service
RPCV Sam Friedberg (Madagascar 2017–19) has spent more than a year traveling solo through Africa and Asia, staying with over 50 Peace Corps Volunteers at their sites along the way.
Spring/Summer 2025 Issue
Domestic Dividend: Part III
As Dean Rusk, former U.S. Secretary of State, once said, “The Peace Corps will make its greatest contribution to foreign policy by not being a part of foreign policy.” It’s a concept the agency has had to navigate since.
The Domestic Dividend: Part II
It wasn’t until the late 1980s that Harvard political scientist Joseph Nye coined the term “soft power,” but Peace Corps fit Nye’s description: a foreign policy tool that achieves desired outcomes through attraction rather than coercion.
The Domestic Dividend: Part I
How do you measure the value of transformation? Ask almost any RPCV if their service was worth it and you get a resounding “Yes.” But ask the average American taxpayer and you may get a different answer.
“Bigger Than Peace Corps”
California Service Corps is the largest state-based service program in the U.S. , with more than 10,000 volunteers across the state in 2025. California’s Governor Gavin Newsom proudly calls the program “bigger than the Peace Corps.”
Show Up, Stand Up
For now, at least, Peace Corps remains one of the last vestiges of America’s position at the vanguard of soft power, leadership, and international cooperation. NPCA President Dan Baker on why now is the time to stand up for service.
When Small Things Make Great Things Possible
In 2023, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer John Chromy (India 1963-65) selected 10 illustrative stories that demonstrate the profound impact Peace Corps has had worldwide. The result is the collection When Small Things Make Great Things Possible.