Megan recommends: The Village of Waiting

The Village of Waiting by George Packer

Journalist and author George Packer -- brother of Ann Packer -- has become somewhat well-known through his writings in the New Yorker and other periodicals. He has written extensively about the Iraq war, but his published work covers a wide variety of topics. One of my favorites is the first book he published, The Village of Waiting, which is a memoir of his time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo in 1982-83. Packer writes about the problems facing contemporary African society, but he also writes frankly about himself and how his time in Africa affected his worldview.

maf