Description

The Fortunate Few is first and foremost a book about the men and women who volunteered their time and skills to improve the lives of millions through the International Voluntary Services (IVS) in Asia, Africa, Central America and South America. Here, nearly one hundred of these volunteers speak about their service years and the impact their work had on their futures and the people they served, often at great cost to themselves. Nearly a dozen volunteers died, victims of the armed conflict that raged across Southeast Asia with the war in Vietnam. They share how John F. Kennedy's assassination affected them, and we read their attempts to offset war policies under Presidents Johnson and Nixon with letters to Congress and records of their direct experiences of Southeast Asian peoples. These men and woman countered The Ugly American image and many are able to see the effects of their work today. Everyone interested in the history of American development efforts--from the Thomasites' work in the Philippines to projects initiated by IVS in the Andes--will value The Fortunate Few in their libraries. Everyone interested in the rewards of volunteerism and the history of how IVS effectiveness would eventually lead to the creation of a number of other international volunteer agencies, including the Peace Corps, will find inspiration and humanitarian confirmation in this record.