The village of Nambonkaha in the Ivory Coast is a place where electricity hasn't yet arrived, where sorcerers still conjure magic, where the tok-tok sound of women pounding corn fills the morning air like a drumbeat. Erdman's vivid account of her time as a Peace Corps volunteer in a small Muslim village in Cote d'Ivoire captures the rhythms, challenges and traditions of Nambonkaha and its people. It's an affectionate, insightful portrait of place, especially poignant since the West African nation would soon be plunged into an ugly civil war.  (WAF72, $16.00)