An engaging personal history and account of self-discovery.
A former Peace Corps volunteer reflects on his transformative experiences in Southeast Asia.
When Ruffing graduated from community college in 1970, his prospects seemed bleak: Spending his spare time smoking marijuana, drinking beer, and listening to rock ’n’ roll, he was no longer eligible for a student deferral from the military draft, and three of his classmates had already been killed in the Vietnam War. Employment opportunities were limited in his hometown of Greenville, Pennsylvania, where the post–World War II economic boom had been replaced by a rust-belt industrial malaise. Finding work at the Greenville Steel Car Company building railroad cars, Ruffing made $3.50 an hour, even with a union contract. A year later, feeling directionless, the author made a life-changing decision to volunteer for the Peace Corps; he would spend the next nine months in rural Thailand. There, he joined other Americans in designing and constructing concrete spillways in remote villages, where his distinctive features (he describes himself as a “giant with blue eyes and sun-bleached hair”) made him a popular curiosity among locals. In addition to discussing the public works activities of Peace Corps volunteers, Ruffing shares his experiences with Thai culture and food and relates humorous anecdotes pertaining to mistranslations across the language barrier (“Thais liked to spice up a story to include allusions to sex,” he notes). On a more serious note are concerns about sexually transmitted diseases, parasites, and unsafe drinking water—Ruffing suffered a harrowing health scare in the course of his service. The author underscores the camaraderie built among volunteers as they held on to elements of American culture by pursuing such diversions as baking brownies in makeshift ovens.
Organized chronologically, the narrative effectively captures a Peace Corps volunteer’s experiences in Thailand and the ethos of the early 1970s; the author places his history within the larger context of Nixon-era Vietnamization and baby boomer counterculture. What makes this volume truly stand out is the way in which the author conveys the life-changing events of his time in Southeast Asia alongside a parallel journey of spiritual enlightenment. Born to a staunchly religious family, Ruffing blames his time in Catholic school for instilling in him a “False Self” defined by low self-esteem, low expectations, and guilt. The Peace Corps not only provided the author with newfound “confidence in [his] own ability and potential,” but also set him on the path to uncovering his “True Self.” This newfound identity drew heavily on Buddhist philosophy and enabled him to transcend the sociocultural expectations of his conservative, Catholic upbringing. By the time he returned home, Ruffing had shed his old persona to become “the driver of [his] own destiny”; he would go on to graduate from the University of Pittsburgh with an advanced degree in civil engineering and build a successful career writing structural analysis software for nuclear power plants. The author of two previous memoirs, Ruffing is a skilled writer whose raw honesty makes his text an absorbing read. A powerful testimonial to the personal and humanitarian benefits of the Peace Corps, this accessible work includes ample photographs and maps.
An engaging personal history and account of self-discovery.Pub Date: May 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781950444717
Page Count: 396
Publisher: Peace Corps Writers
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
