Hey everyone, Ryan here. One great thing about all the down time we have here is all the reading I have been able to do. After finishing one of the best books I have ever read, "Warlock" by Oakley Hall, I moved on to the non-fiction "American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corps". So following in the footsteps of my sister-in-law Emily, I will attempt to tell you about this book in my blog.
.
American Taboo was written Philip Weiss and published in 2004. Weiss is an accomplished journalist who by happenstance uncovered one of the greatest mysteries and cover-ups in Peace Corps history. The 1975 murder of PCV Deb Gardner by fellow PCV Dennis Priven, on a tiny, forgotten island known as the Kingdom of Tonga. That's right, the most famous story in all of Peace Corps lore happened right here in Tonga. The book is an incredibly entertaining page-turner in the vein of mass-market books like "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo". Moreover, the setting of Tonga and the Peace Corps makes the book a really intriguing read. For me it was certainly the most relevant book I have ever read, as Abby and I are frequenting many of the same places referenced in the book.
While some of the stories of the PCVs in 1975 could not be further from our experience today, many of the same issues, places and themes of the book are true to what we are going through at this very minute.
The murder of Deb Gardner is still a known issue in Tonga today as it set back Tongan-Palangi relations and we have even met a couple of locals who knew both Deb and Dennis in the 70s. The book also got a ton of coverage in America as I know 20/20, Dateline and 60 Minutes all did features on the story in 2004. If anyone out there wants to get a feel for what what its like to be a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tonga (during the 70s) then I would definitely recommend reading American Taboo.
Up next: American Pastoral by Philip Roth
No comments:
Post a Comment