2011.09.20: September 20, 2011: India RPCV and Uganda Country Director J. Larry Brown, a veteran of the Peace Corps between 1966-2009, is in Washington, D.C. to meet with Peace Corps officials and members of Congress to discuss reforms
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2011.09.20: September 20, 2011: India RPCV and Uganda Country Director J. Larry Brown, a veteran of the Peace Corps between 1966-2009, is in Washington, D.C. to meet with Peace Corps officials and members of Congress to discuss reforms
India RPCV and Uganda Country Director J. Larry Brown, a veteran of the Peace Corps between 1966-2009, is in Washington, D.C. to meet with Peace Corps officials and members of Congress to discuss reforms
"Probably few people love the Peace Corps more than I do," Brown recently explained, "but loving it means supporting it and being honest about its weaknesses." His new book chronicles how much the agency has changed since the days of President John F. Kennedy and Director Sargent Shriver. Brown writes that Peace Corps leadership today is "uncreative, unimaginative and often ineffective."
India RPCV and Uganda Country Director J. Larry Brown, a veteran of the Peace Corps between 1966-2009, is in Washington, D.C. to meet with Peace Corps officials and members of Congress to discuss reforms
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By Dr. J. Larry Brown
Published: Tuesday, Sep. 20, 2011 - 8:23 am
NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 2011 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. J. Larry Brown, a veteran of the Peace Corps between 1966-2009, is in Washington, D.C. to meet with Peace Corps officials and members of Congress to discuss reforms. Brown's just released book, Peasants Come Last: A Memoir of the Peace Corps at Fifty, challenges that the agency's leadership has lost its passion and mission. This book is timely as many Peace Corps' former volunteers are gathering in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the half-century mark of John F. Kennedy's cherished New Frontier dream.
"Probably few people love the Peace Corps more than I do," Brown recently explained, "but loving it means supporting it and being honest about its weaknesses." His new book chronicles how much the agency has changed since the days of President John F. Kennedy and Director Sargent Shriver. Brown writes that Peace Corps leadership today is "uncreative, unimaginative and often ineffective."
In 2009, Brown served as Peace Corps Country Director in Uganda, an experience that provided the setting for Peasants Come Last. He also served as an early Peace Corps Volunteer in India from 1966-68, and as Assistant Director of Peace Corps Washington from 1977-78 under President Jimmy Carter. Brown lauds the extraordinary service of the 200,000 volunteers who have served. "But the good that volunteers do frequently is despite Washington, not because of it," Brown charges. "The headquarters bureaucracy has become unimaginative, unmoving, and unkind to peasants around the world."
Brown is no newcomer to the development field. A Harvard University faculty member for many years, he also directed the National Center on Hunger and Poverty, and served as chairman of Oxfam America. Brown's previous books include Building a Real Ownership Society and Living Hungry in America. He has testified many times at Congressional hearings on public policy issues, and appeared on top television and radio news programs, such as CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, ABC World News, Nightline, Good Morning America, The Today Show, MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, Frontline, CNN News, BBC Radio News and National Public Radio.
Brown will attend the Library of Congress Presents Peace Corps Authors Luncheon on Sept. 22nd at noon to 3:00 pm. He will also be available at the National Peace Corps Association at 10:00 am to 11:00 am on Sept. 23rd.
Praise for Peasants Come Last-
Peasants Come LastIn the tradition of popular activist scholars like Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould, J. Larry Brown gives us a candid look at what it means to try to do good in a harsh world. We are taken to the makeshift huts of refugees… to Murchison Falls where Livingstone once stood… and we see families eating the same meal every day. But of all the obstacles faced, none is as nonsensical as the tone-deaf dealings of Peace Corps Washington. – Earl Shorris, Contributing Editor, Harper's Magazine
Sometimes insisting that we live up to our highest ideals is the greatest form of public service. I urge all Americans to read Brown's poignant memoir of hope-and call for reform. – U.S. Congressman John Lewis
A vivid, insightful and personal story… Brown reminds us of the power of JFK's vision. And the Washington that Brown indicts reminds us of the wisdom of Sargent Shriver who argued that no Peace Corps staffer should serve more than five years. Colin Powell understood the problem of HQ arrogance [noting that] "the field is ALWAYS right." – Richard Celeste, Former Peace Corps Director
Larry Brown has more original ideas in a week than most people have in a lifetime. And he has the energy to pursue these ideas against all odds. One of his consistent concerns has been the plight of the poor. In this book Brown has applied his formidable intelligence and great energy to think anew about the ways in which Peace Corps can be effective in assisting the poorest of the poor. His is a story of great frustration and great hope. It is a book that holds promise for a renewal of the core values of the Peace Corps. – Sam Brown, Director of ACTION (Peace Corps and Vista), 1977-80; Ambassador to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, 1997-2000
Part travelogue and part program analysis, Brown's memoir reflects a respect and affection for Peace Corps volunteers and the villagers of Uganda. But it is also a portrait of change at the Peace Corps as a result of 9/11 and the bureaucratization of an agency that started out putting people first -- both those in-country, and those coming there to improve the prospects in some small way for the poorest of the poor. One suspects the relevance of this highly readable book reaches far beyond the Peace Corps. – Judith Humphreys, Amazon Review
Serving many years on the faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. J. Larry Brown riveted national attention to the existence of hunger in America in the 1980′s, when he led a team of prominent doctors on field investigations into twenty-five states. The founding director of the Center on Hunger and Poverty, Brown also founded the Feinstein Famine Center and the Institute on Assets and Social Policy. Dr. Brown chaired the board of Oxfam America, and also chaired the medical task force of USA for Africa and Hands Across America. He is the author of numerous articles in both lay and scientific journals, such as Scientific American and Encyclopedia Britannica, and several books including Living Hungry in America. He has appeared often on national television including CNN, Good Morning America, Today Show, and network news programs, and testifies frequently before Congress. A young Peace Corps Volunteer in rural India in the late 1960s, Brown later served under President Carter as Assistant Director of the Peace Corps. He recently served a stint as Country Director for the Peace Corps in Uganda, and now resides with his wife, Judi Garfinkel, in Oman, where they head programs for World Learning/SIT.
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Headlines: September, 2011; Peace Corps India; Directory of India RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for India RPCVs; Writing - India; Peace Corps Uganda; Directory of Uganda RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Uganda RPCVs; Country Directors - Uganda; Criticism
When this story was posted in October 2011, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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