This Odyssey of an Octogenarian is certainly different. From 1920, when at age 5, my first disastrous adventure occurred until the present time, I have experienced moment after moment of unexpected surprises, of traumatic panics, of impossible coincidences and finally of idiotic decisions I made which some how have always turned into very happy memories. I know that most books are written for monetary profit. At ninety years of age, and with out any close relatives, my writing for profit is kind of ridiculous. Of the two other choices, I hope this effort will be construed as a labor of love rather than as an ego trip. In any event I have arranged for any possible royalties to be donated to Bakersfield and other American worth while endeavors. So please read and enjoy! In any event I have arranged for any possible royalties to be set aside and donated directly to the Katrina-Rita disaster fund.

About the book The guns had barely gone silent after thirty months of a gruesome civil war. The infrastructure in the theater of war had all but been completely battered. A young final-year high school student fresh from the ravages of war had gained admission into one of the only four universities in his forcibly reunited country to study medicine in the western region of the country. A whole world of opportunities had been opened up. An unfolding odyssey of eleven action-packed years in the local West was to transform the emerging lover-boy eaglet through the ranks of William Shakespeares lover sighing like furnace to the soldier full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard. A short stint in party politics followed by leadership in professional politics pitched the young man against the powers that be. These were to culminate into series of dangerously veiled duels that were to ultimately force the man to seek disguised refuge in the shores of the acclaimed West. A new world, a new horizon, new scenes, new challenges, some uncanny solutions; the main actor in the odyssey himself bares it all!

Rural Odyssey is a story that follows the family and life of a young man who grew up in rural America. This book is made up of the many experiences and stories and incorporates secrets that were involved in all relationships in his parents' families and in his own family. It also weaves in the accounts of growing up in a straight Pentecostal and faith-based life. The young man's life is shaped by his experiences and is followed as he grows up in a minister's family. His education is begun in a rural one room schoolhouse and then advances to the usual elementary and secondary school systems, attendance at a state university, and entry in medical school at 19 years of age. Multiple successes and failures are included. The intricacies of his life along with multiple marriages, children, and drug associated problems are told through stories. Always trying to be a knight in shining armor and everything to everyone caused many problems. Faith was the glue that kept his life together. 50 years in the practice of general surgery has brought about a lot of observations and many varied and entertaining stories. Many technical advances are noted both in life and medical practice. Problems are presented and interesting simple solutions are given. All in all, this is very readable, understandable, hilarious, and intensely fascinating adventure of growing up in the country and memories of family, faith, and secrets.

An engaging, critical study of Hugh Hood's ambitious twelve-volume novel-series.

Stirring portraits of five commanders whose dynamic leadership changed the course of war and history by prominent military historian Victor Davis Hanson. "Victor Davis Hanson has written another outstanding and eye-opening book"--The Washington Examiner Leading military historian Victor Davis Hanson returns to non-fiction in The Savior Generals, a set of brilliantly executed pocket biographies of five generals who single-handedly saved their nations from defeat in war. War is rarely a predictable enterprise--it is a mess of luck, chance, and incalculable variables. Today's sure winner can easily become tomorrow's doomed loser. Sudden, sharp changes in fortune can reverse the course of war. These intractable circumstances are sometimes mastered by leaders of genius--asked at the eleventh hour to save a hopeless conflict, created by others, often unpopular with politics and the public. These savior generals often come from outside the established power structure, employ radical strategies, and flame out quickly. Their careers often end in controversy. But their dramatic feats of leadership are vital slices of history--not merely as stirring military narrative, but as lessons on the dynamic nature of consensus, leadership, and destiny.

Explore the shock of the new—and the familiar—experienced by well-known expatriate writers when they returned to the United States. The migration of American artists and intellectuals to Europe in the early twentieth century has been amply documented and studied, but few scholars have examined the aftermath of their return home. Writing Back focuses on the memoirs of modernist writers and intellectuals who struggled with their return to America after years of living abroad. Susan Winnett establishes repatriation as related to but significantly different from travel and exile. She engages in close readings of several writers-in-exile, including Henry James, Harold Stearns, Malcolm Cowley, and Gertrude Stein. Writing Back examines how repatriation unsettles the self-construction of the “returning absentee” by challenging the fictions of national and cultural identity with which the writer has experimented during the time abroad. As both Americans and expatriates, these writers gained a unique perspective on American culture, particularly in terms of gender roles, national identity, artistic self-conception, mobility, and global culture.

Anthony A. Policastro's debut novel about redemption, a life-changing trip from New York to America's heartland and the powerful spirit and beliefs of America's first Americans ' the Native American Indian. Be the first to write a review!