{"product_id":"9780374527808","title":"The Village of Waiting","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Village of Waiting\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): George Packer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBack in print, the \"masterful\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e) account of an American in West Africa\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow restored to print with a new Foreword by Philip Gourevitch and an Afterword by the author, \u003ci\u003eThe Village of Waiting\u003c\/i\u003e is a frank, moving, and vivid account of contemporary life in West Africa. Stationed as a Peace Corps instructor in the village of Lavié (the name means \"wait a little more\") in tiny and underdeveloped Togo, George Packer reveals his own schooling at the hands of an unforgettable array of townspeople—peasants, chiefs, charlatans, children, market women, cripples, crazies, and those who, having lost or given up much of their traditional identity and fastened their hopes on \"development,\" find themselves trapped between the familiar repetitions of rural life and the chafing monotony of waiting for change.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Lovely in its feeling for the people and realistic in its assessment of the African situations, this is a first-rate piece of social reportage.”—Irving Howe\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[A] fond and angry account...An impressively unself-righteous and questioning work of intimate introduction, in which each dislocation of hope and breakdown of sense matters. Truthful throughout.”—\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Glowing...A masterful book.”—\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780374527808\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Farrar, Straus and Giroux","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40594795659470,"sku":"9780374527808","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_00c4b035-f7e2-42f2-803e-c5d9eb9c23be.jpg?v=1637818247","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780374527808","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}