If You Turn to Look Back combines memoir with political, social, and economic investigations of what it means to be an American and a citizen of the world. American influence is ubiquitous in South America, and If You Turn to Look Back explores these relationships in a personal context. For Tom Hazuka was once part of that influence, from 1978-1980 as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chile, first in the capital of Santiago, then in the far northern city of Arica, near the Peruvian border.
In a chain of events springing from the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in 2003 Hazuka returned to Chile to examine changes in the country, the people and himself. He left Chile at twenty-four and returned at forty-seven. Every human knows what it's like to wonder where time goes, and to reflect on what has been gained and lost over the years.
One variable that has not changed for Hazuka is that he is an American. In South America, like it or not he is a representative in developing nations of the richest and most powerful country on the planet. The intricacies of that relationship and the dynamics it creates are the focus of If You Turn to Look Back.
By:
Tom Hazuka
Imprint: Woodhall Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 228mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 20mm
Weight: 503g
ISBN: 9781954907669
ISBN 10: 1954907664
Pages: 388
Publication Date: 11 January 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface-- We Are in Pain 5Chapter One--The Politics of Goodbye 8Chapter Two--Sweet and Right 14Chapter Three--Sea A Tranquility 19Chapter Four--The Gringo Advantage 26Chapter Five--Misma Mierda, Distintas Moscas 44Chapter Six--A Finite Window 51Chapter Seven--The Snows of Yesteryear 64Chapter Eight- The Broken House 83Chapter Nine--Pilgrimage to Pisagua 92Chapter Ten--The Past on Paper 105Chapter Eleven--On Time 120Chapter Twelve--Barriers: Broken Glass, Velvet Ropes and Dotted Lines 131Chapter Thirteen--Santiago Mon Amour 143Chapter Fourteen--The Concatenation Connection 168Epilogue 191Appendices 193
Tom Hazuka was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chile from 1978-1980, during the Pinochet dictatorship which began with a violent military overthrow of the elected government on September 11, 1973.If You Turn to Look Back chronicles his return to Chile after 9/11, and the changes in the author and the world he once knew. By examining the particular details of his personal experiences, he draws universal conclusions that connect to all of us. Hazuka retired after years of teaching at Central Connecticut State University. Tom lives in Sebastian, Florida and Berlin, Connecticut.
