'Peasants Come Last: A Memoir of the Peace Corps at Fifty' is an unforgettable account of renowned scholar and author Dr. J. Larry Brown's tenure as Peace Corps Country Director for Uganda. In an easy, captivating storyteller's voice, Brown takes us on an eye-opening journey into the heart of Africa and the soul of Washington, DC, two worlds often very much at odds, to the detriment of those too poor and too irrelevant to secure the attention they deserve, either in their home countries or in the U.S.
Set in the East African nation of Uganda, a country lush with natural beauty but ravaged by poverty and corruption, Larry Brown's account of the challenges overseeing the work and safety of 165 Peace Corps Volunteers and dealing with unsympathetic DC headquarters reveals challenges and frustrations as well as joys and successes. These raw, unapologetic insights into the real world of the Peace Corps today reveal that in fact, these peasants, as so many others like them throughout the world, do come last.