The Peace Corps Book Locker

Abstract

Each Peace Corps volunteer received a large, hinged box made of strong cardboard. This Book Locker was filled with paperback books for the volunteer to read and to pass along to students, villagers, and others. When the box was open, it had shelves and became a bookcase. The lockers contained novels, nonfiction books, reference books, maps, materials to learn English, and books about the region. Bill’s “diary,” which the prosecution argues demonstrated a motive for the alleged murder, is revealed to contain only quotations from Ceremony in Lone Tree, a book included in the Book Locker. The book was written by Wright Morris, a popular author of spare, midwestern stories, one of which brought him the National Book Award.