From the Center of the Earth: Stories Out of the Peace Corps

This collection of 13 short stories written by Peace Corps volunteers with advanced degrees and American ways of seeing social and economic life, is full of unexpected insights. As the stories unfold, one understands just a bit better why a fish farmer gives away most of his hard-earned first harvest; how school lessons reinforced with beatings are still considered the only way to make students learn in one village; how young tribal Africans, with good humor, put a young volunteer in his place with an elaborate version of a rural snipe hunt; why one older volunteer chose to remain permanently

"Pretty exotic" will be many a reader's conclusion, but so will "thoroughly human," i.e., funny, raffish, tragic, cruel, . . this is a powerful, engrossing collection

What is so remarkable about these stories is how well they deliver the absolute essence, not of a Peace Corps "experience," but of the cultures of the host countries. If there are 130,000 RPCVs in this country, why haven't we had more of an effect on attitudes and policies? I think we can by putting this book on our family coffee tables and night stands, in our town libraries, and in our shcools. With today's economy, it is a wonderful gift­for families, friends, and teachers

These are real writers at work, who seem to have observed so keenly the arcana of the cultures they livd in, and written it all down, that you can begin to feel overwhelmed by the meticulousness of it, and the nearly unrelenting solemnity. It's a new sub-sub-genre­Peace Corps naturalism. . .Like Peace Corps life, this valuable book packs a lot into a little space

The collection contains a surprising amount of humor for a book grounded in cultrual turmoil, global poverty, linguistic confusion, and a decent amount of tragedy. . .a crash course in cultural relativism while capturing the pecular sights, struggles, and smells of distant places