Citizenship | Literature
Select novels, short stories, and nonfiction on contemporary life.
What began as a bold experiment in grassroots service produced future ambassadors to help guide U.S. diplomacy through seven decades of global upheaval.
Read, Listen, Watch
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Afghan Finance Minister Ghani steeped Metrinko and Peace Corps Director Vasquez in nostalgia from his years learning English and basketball with PCVs in KabulView post to subscribe to the site’s newsletter.
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What Walter Kirn gets wrong about fascist protests: their cliches and tropes are all too easy to spot. Violence, racism, hate, tiki-torches, and insurrection.View post to subscribe to the site’s newsletter.
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Limbert’s poise, broadcast in Iran and around the world, leveraged Khamenei’s own culture into a polite message discrediting those holding the Americans captiveView post to subscribe to the site’s newsletter.
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Even after 5 months as a hostage John Limbert retained his identity as a diplomat, engaging Iran’s future Supreme Leader in language and custom Khamenei couldn’t ignoreView post to subscribe to the site’s newsletter.
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An author and former diplomat reflects on his hometown, his earliest career failure, and how Peace Corps helped him overcome it to tell America’s story abroad
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A brief pivot from Peace Corps profiles to pressing matters of climate change and opinion journalism.View post to subscribe to the site’s newsletter.
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Peace Corps Nepal in the 1960s could feel slow. Adapting to the boredom turned out to be good preparation for enduring 444 days of tedium as a hostage in IranView post to subscribe to the site’s newsletter.
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Four of the 52 Americans held hostage in Tehran for 444 days had served as Peace Corps Volunteers: Victor Tomseth, John Limbert, Michael Metrinko, and Barry RosenView post to subscribe to the site’s newsletter.
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No communist country had hosted a Peace Corps program until Peter Tomsen negotiated a role for Volunteers in China, an objective that would take over a decade to fulfillView post to subscribe to the site’s newsletter.
Ben East Books 