Villagers

In a vivid, jolting, enthralling globe-straddling odyssey, Critchfield takes readers inside villages from Mexico to Kenya. Everywhere, he finds, traditional, once culturally self-sufficient villages are reeling under the impact of population growth, the influx of commercial television culture and Western ideas, shrinking farmland and adjustment to a world market economy. In this sequel to Villages, Critchfield uses the verbatim conversations of villagers to flesh out his incisive reporting. We visit an Egyptian community roiled by Islamic revival, rural Poles lurching from communism to capitalism, India's agriculturally rich Punjab torn by caste, communal strife and terrorism, and a South Korean town where Confucian values act as a buffer to Western acquisitiveness and greed. Yet village life, Critchfield shows, persists as the cradle of family, religion, a work ethic and organic ties to nature. (Nov.)