The Foreign Service Journal, November 2005

Challenges for Nonprofits and Philanthropy: The Courage to Change Pablo Eisenberg, Tufts University Press, 2005, $29.95, hardcover, 242 pages. With government budgets again under strain, atten- tion will inevitably shift to philanthropy and the nonprof- it world to accomplish needed work in the public domain. Will they rise to the occasion? Pablo Eisenberg thinks they can and ought to, but they’ll have to “lighten up” first. This collection of essays, written over the past three decades by one of the most influential and outspoken voices in philanthropy, offers insight into the growth of the nonprofit sector from its origins in the wake of the 1960s War on Poverty and the changes within nonprofits and foundations that have accompanied this growth. Readers learn how the non- profit world really works — not how it is supposed to work in academic or legal theory — and the author speaks candidly about what he sees as philanthropy’s fail- ure to adequately serve the disenfranchised. With a tow- ering institutional presence, the nonprofits have become self-righteous and controlling, he shows. The author argues persuasively for a reinvigorated, visionary and activist leadership and a sense of humor — offering role models in appreciations of several nonprofit leaders. Pablo Eisenberg, a former FSO who was posted to Africa with USIA, is a senior fellow at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute and a regular columnist for The Chronicle of Philanthropy. PEOPLE AND PLACES Dominican Sojourn: Two Years in the Dominican Republic Norman Barth, 2004, $25.00, paperback, 110 pages (105 in color). As a first-tour vice consul at Embassy Santo Domin- go, Norman Barth and his wife spent weekends exploring their new country of resi- dence. Pretty soon Barth was writing a weekly article on their discoveries, illustrated with his own photographs, for a local expatriate newsletter. This book is a collection of the best of these columns. While not a guidebook in the classical sense, Dominican Sojourn is a gentle and accessible introduction to this Caribbean country’s sights, atmosphere and traditions. Each chapter, starting with the secret delights of a game of dominoes, tells a story that will whet your desire to visit and learn more. The book covers many destinations within the Dominican Republic, while also highlighting obscure corners of Santo Domingo’s Colonial Zone. A tango dancer, espresso drinker, earth scientist and FSO, Norman Barth has published numerous peer- reviewed scientific articles. This is his first book-length work. Dominican Sojourn may be purchased online at http://www.normanbarth.com/books/dr/. Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village Sarah Erdman, Picador, 2004, $14.00, paperback, 336 pages. This book, released in paperback late last summer, garnered rave reviews when it appeared in hard- cover two years ago. “A delightful and moving portrait of modern Francophone Africa by an uncommonly talented writer with the eye of a social sci- entist and the ear of a poet,” said The Washington Post . “Erdman’s irrepressibility lofts you along. If her book is more earnest, less coruscating, less eager to K.O. the reader than [other memoirs], it’s wonderful in a way that [the others] can’t touch,” enthused The New York Times. The village of Nambonkaha in Cote d’Ivoire is a place where electricity hasn’t yet arrived, where sorcerers still use magic and where the tok-tok sound of women pound- ing corn fills the morning air like a drumbeat. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, Sara Erdman finds that Nombonkaha is also a place where AIDS threatens and poverty is con- stant, where women suffer the indignities of patriarchal customs and where children work like adults while still managing to dream. Erdman does not offer prescriptions for promoting health care in rural Africa. Rather, she makes us wonder with her whether AIDS education on the continent would have been more effective if health workers had worked with the notion of sorcery instead of against it. As Library Journal put it, she “takes the reader on a vivid and compelling journey. The author’s sensitivity to the traditions of the villagers, the unique ways she found to F O C U S 32 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 5