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.

For the first time, the story of Afghanistan prior to, and during, the communist coup of 1979 is told from the perspective of an American working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Afghanistan.

This work presents a history of the Peace Corp and exposes Washington infighting, presidential influence, and the struggles volunteers faced abroad. Not an institutional history, the book is a look at the Peace Corps's first fifty years. On October 14, 1960, at an impromptu speech at the University of Michigan, John F. Kennedy presented an idea to a crowd of restless students for an organization that would rally American youth in service. Though the speech lasted barely three minutes, his germ of an idea morphed dramatically into Kennedy's most enduring legacy, the Peace Corps. From this offhand campaign remark, shaped speedily by President Kennedy's brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, in 1961, the organization ascended with remarkable excitement and publicity, attracting the attention of thousands of hopeful young Americans. The author unpacks the complicated history with sharp analysis and anecdotes, taking readers on a global trek starting with the historic first contingent of Volunteers to Ghana on August 30, 1961. The Peace Corps has served as an American emblem for world peace and friendship, yet few realize that it has sometimes tilted its agenda to meet the demands of the White House. Tracing its history through the past nine presidential administrations, the author discloses, for instance, how Lyndon Johnson became furious when Volunteers opposed his invasion of the Dominican Republic; he reveals how Richard Nixon literally tried to destroy the Peace Corps, and how Ronald Reagan endeavored to make it an instrument of foreign policy in Central America. But somehow the ethos of the Peace Corps 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.

Have you ever come home from a long vacation, or even a short weekend away, and been so focused on your new destination that you forgot to unpack? Perhaps it was just a day of shopping, a time of running errands, anything to get you out of the house for a little while, and you came home with heaping shopping bags, filled with groceries or clothes or all sorts of treasures. Well, my time away was 21 months, and I came home in March with just a suitcase and a hiking backpack that was falling apart to show for it. At the time, I did not know how long I would be living out of my suitcase--or how much time it would take to unpack. Well, here I am, in August, five months later, looking around my childhood bedroom at fragments of my suitcase, scattered around the room. It's taken time to unpack. From the physical articles of clothing, to the memories I carry with me from my time in Ethiopia. Some things I unpacked quickly, like food products and coffee and souvenirs I was anxious to hand off to friends and family. Other items have taken a little longer to unpack--the memories of coffee ceremonies, bartering for hand-woven baskets, at the Axum market, letters from my favorite students tied deeply to my heart. Slowly but surely, I have been approaching the end of my unpacking. And that is what I've done here in this book--gradually unpacked my Peace Corps experience for you (in a way that is hopefully in much better shape than my hiking backpack)--and in a way that is both honest and vulnerable, the stories as uplifting as they were humbling for me. This is not the year I was expecting. I don't think it was for anyone. So let me pause and say that sometimes, in the most unexpected of circumstances, we find true beauty. If you had asked me as a high school or university student what my plan was when I graduated, I can assure you I would not have answered with 'live in the desert of northern Ethiopia and teach hormonal teenagers English grammar.' No way.And yet, it was one of the most invigorating, amazing, awe-inspiring experiences of my life. I didn't expect it to, but it knocked my world upside down and taught me the most important parts of my self, my community, and the world I live in. 550 days of living in a foreign country, serving as everything from an English teacher to a coffee maker to a diplomat for the U.S., and I can without a doubt say I am exhausted. It's a good kind of tired, though. It's the kind of muscle-aching, foot-throbbing, belly-bloating tired that you get when you come home from the adventure of a lifetime and run into the arms of those you love most, to receive a never-ending hug. I'm tired, but I am inspired. I spent 550 days of my young adult life wandering in a desert, both physical and emotional, filling my heart and my head with stories, colors, beauty and pain all at the same time. And I hope the chapters on the following pages do it justice. I first made it a goal of mine to write one page every day of my time in Ethiopia. I did not come close, but I still managed to leave with some pretty good content. Only a fraction of my time was spent journaling about the day--the other 94% was spent building relationships, making new friends, teaching high school level English, learning the language of Tigrigna, and dancing my heart out. Still, I flipped through written pages of lists, highlights, joys and sorrows, and narrowed down the list from over 450 blog posts to a little over 200 pages of stories and quips. I hope you enjoy them.