Mariantonia

by Robert Forster

Robert L. Forster was born and raised in the small western Wisconsin town of Durand. His lifetime journey as a Peace Corps Volunteer is the theme of this book. It encompasses not only his service in a small town on Honduras’ border with El Salvador, but also his upbringing and its role in developing his interest in the Peace Corps. But his cross-cultural journey didn’t end with the Peace Corps. His marriage to his wife Mariantonia, a Honduran, and his long career working for a non-profit organization serving migrant farm workers in Wisconsin has made it a life-long process. His early interests in language and the dynamics of human interaction put him on a trajectory that led to an unforgettable and formative experience that changed his life. It has been an exciting lifetime journey. Daily life in that small Honduran town gave him invaluable insight into the world and the human beings who populate it, and how we can share our humanity with people whose backgrounds are so different from our own.

218 pages, Paperback

Published September 22, 2021

About the author

Robert Wallace Forster, Jr. (born July 13, 1941), known professionally as Robert Forster, was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as John Cassellis in Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool and Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He appeared in films such as Mulholland Drive, The Descendants, Olympus Has Fallen, and its upcoming sequel London Has Fallen. He also appeared in television series such as Heroes, Alcatraz, Last Man Standing, and Breaking Bad. He is a member of the Triple Nine Society.[1]

Reviews

[D.W.Jefferson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well written and well organized memoir focused on the author's Peace Corps service but including his life before and after Peace Corps. I especially recommend it for those considering joining the Peace Corps and for those who want more information about the history and politics of Honduras in particular and Central America in general.

If, like me, you have heard about the so called soccer war between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969, but never gotten a reliable account of what happened and why, this book gives the best account of it I've seen. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador from 1974 to 1976 and by then references to the soccer war were vague.

I've read a number of memoirs (Peace Corps and otherwise), and this is one of the best edited and proofread I have encountered. Kudos to the author for devoting the time and effort to make this a very professionally done work!