When the World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years

When the World Calls is the first complete and balanced look at the Peace Corps's first fifty years. Revelatory and candid, journalist Stanley Meisler's engaging narrative exposes Washington infighting, presidential influence, and the Volunteers' unique struggles abroad. He deftly unpacks the complicated history with sharp analysis and memorable anecdotes, taking readers on a global trek starting with the historic first contingent of Volunteers to Ghana on August 30, 1961. In the years since, in spite of setbacks, the ethos of the Peace Corps has endured, largely due to the perseverance of the 200,000 Volunteers themselves, whose shared commitment to effect positive global change has been a constant in one of our most complex--and valued--institutions.

Author: Stanley Meisler
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 02/07/2012
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.70h x 5.82w x 0.51d
ISBN13: 9780807050514
ISBN10: 0807050512
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Volunteer Work
- History | United States | 21st Century
- History | United States | 20th Century

About the Author

Stanley Meisler, the author of two other books, was a foreign and diplomatic correspondent for the Los Angeles Times for three decades. He was also deputy director of the Peace Corps's Office of Evaluation and Research in the mid-1960s. Meisler, who lives in Washington, D.C., has written for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Atlantic, the Nation, and Smithsonian, and periodically posts news commentaries on his Web site.

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