Disturbance-Loving Species : A Novella and Stories

Peter Chilson's fiction debut delivers a fascinating, heart-wrenching view of modern African culture, filtered through the lens of the West. In a novella and four short stories, Chilson, who traveled to Africa first as a Peace Corps volunteer and later as a freelance journalist, uses a phrase borrowed from biology to point out how our "disturbance-loving species" thrives in the most chaotic, seemingly unlivable situations. As this remarkable collection explores the experiences of Americans struggling to cope with the political and social upheaval of life in Africa and of Africans acclimating to life in the United States, Chilson captures in vivid detail the strange, exhilarating frisson between cultures. In the tradition of Paul Theroux, Peter Chilson's fiction debut delivers a fascinating, heart-wrenching view of modern African culture, filtered through the lens of the West. The collection explores the experiences of Americans struggling to cope with life in Africa, and of Africans acclimating to life in the United States. In a novella and four short stories, Chilson uses a phrase borrowed from biology to point out how our "disturbanceloving species" thrives in the most chaotic, seemingly uninhabitable situations. In the opening novella, an idealistic young college graduate teaching in Niger witnesses his colleague's abduction by soldiers at gunpoint. "American Food," winner of the Gulf Coast Prize for fiction, finds a West African professor trying to preserve his culinary customs while living in a small Oregon town. Chilson, who went to Africa first as a Peace Corps volunteer and later as a freelance journalist, captures in vivid detai A debut collection of short fiction by the winner of the 2006 Bakeless Prize for fiction captures modern African culture as it explores the experiences of Americans adjusting to life in Africa and of Africans struggling to acclimate to life in the United States, in an anthology that features a novella and four short stories. Original. Chilsons fiction debut delivers a fascinating, heart-wrenching view of modern African culture, filtered through the lens of the West. This collection of stories explores the experiences of Americans struggling to cope with life in Africa, and of Africans acclimating to life in the United States Tea With Soldiers: A Novella -- American Food -- Disturbance-loving Species -- Freelancing -- Toumani Ogun. Peter Chilson. A Mariner Original. Winner Of The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Bakeless Prize--cover.