About the Author:
Most books include a biography intended to sketch the author's background. Readers might want to know that the author has education, experience, and expertise setting him or her apart as someone with something uniquely valuable to say. This author, however, has very little unique information and no strikingly special perspective. The author presents himself as a US citizen with access to newspapers, magazines, books and the internet--all available to most other citizens. His stated intent is to become a better informed citizen, and the hope is that he can encourage fellow citizens to find their own ways to improve their participation in our democracy. Of course to some extent the author, like anyone else, has lived and is still living a unique life. He did undergraduate work as a pre-med student at Tufts University and graduate work as an English major at Rutgers University. He taught English literature and composition for a number of years at various universities. Work got in the way of studies, so he gave it up for a bit until his wife pointed out that it would be nice if he got a job before his first child arrived. He ended up with a career in computer software after taking a job in a field he didn't even know existed. Admittedly the career path is somewhat odd, but chances are that many others, who grew to what passed for maturity in the sixties, could tell even more outlandish tales. Today he lives in retirement with his wife who continues to steer him on a straighter course than he might manage on his own. The book owes much to her careful editing and thoughtful comments. He loves his children and grandchildren, spends time gardening and gathering wood for the best of heat sources, sails an odd boat of his dreams, and tries very hard to keep his mouth shut when the social situation demands that he refrain from speaking his mind. What he has to say is here, instead, for you to read, if you chose to do so. In early 2013 the author added a couple of 2012, pre-election, newspaper editorial responses to citizens holding different views along with another entry on healthcare. These entries tended to restate older political views still held on issues that are still relevant. But also, he added a postscript in an attempt to rise above politics by opening up a wider view of where we are headed as a country, wider than politicians can afford to advocate before the citizenry reaches some sort of new understanding of the American dream.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.