We Have a Winner!

The winning answers to the quiz were sent today by Rev. Barry Zavah, one of the contributor's to the book, at 13:49 Eastern Daylight Time (10:49 Pacific Daylight Time). I'm sorry everyone couldn't win, especially those others who submitted the correct answers. Watch this blog for announcements of future contests and maybe you'll win next time!

The correct answers to the quiz are:
1 - E
2 - E This is the one that was missed most often. The Constitution, First Amendment (part of the Bill of Rights) states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free excerise thereof;..." Thomas Jefferson first used the term "wall of separation."
3 - D
4 - B

Thanks to everyone for entering!

HERE'S A GOOD REASON TO READ A GOOD HISTORY BOOK

If you’ve never thought you would willingly pick up a history book, or encourage your kids to study history, here’s something that should shock you.

According to a study conducted in 2005, for the second year in a row at America’s “elite” universities and colleges, students have failed to rise above a “D plus” on basic knowledge tests about civics and American history.

It’s not that history is unimportant. It is very important! If Americans can’t even answer basic questions about this country’s past, how can they understand how to vote in elections, or what this country’s principles consist of? And yes, I have to agree that the way history is taught in school makes it a b-o-r-i-n-g subject.

However, with a college education costing as much as $40,000 per year, shouldn’t we expect that students will acquire basic knowledge in history? Shouldn’t we even expect them to learn some of it in middle and high school? Or is it asking too much of our education system to provide even minimal history lessons? And shouldn't history lessons be more interesting than having to memorize dates and names?

If you’ve ever needed a good reason to read a history book with your kids, this is it. And if you want a good, interesting, intelligent book that the entire family will enjoy (yes, I said enjoy), then the book I’ve just written should fill the bill. When I wrote the book, I had already seen a study that claimed young adults were graduating without basic knowledge of history. And I had seen evidence, since some of the young, otherwise intelligent people I have known couldn’t remember hearing about important events that have happened even in their lifetimes!

One day I realized that history needed to be put in a format that would entertain as well as inform so that students and adults would actually enjoy reading about it. So, I gathered a group of people to help me tell the story of the history we have lived through.

The ’40s to today have been some of the most amazing times in history. We’ve seen everything from racism to rockets, from counterculture to conservatism, from a Cold War to terrorists attacking our country on our own soil. We who have written this book have a lot of history under our belts, since we’ve witnessed most of it via television. Some of us were even present at the scene as it was happening.

Looking Back: Boomers Remember History from the ’40s to the Present is presented in a friendly, readable format that is anything but boring. Oh, the facts are there, and were double- and triple-checked for accuracy, but instead of emphasizing dates and names, it reveals the tragedy of the bad times as well as the triumphs of the amazing moments. It puts a human face to events, and shares the emotions of ordinary citizens living through extraordinary times.

We must all understand the role history plays in our nation’s amazing moments as well as recognize and understand its mistakes. And everyone needs to learn our country's heritage, or else it will be forgotten. And that will be a sad day for the future of our great nation!

CONTEST - First one to answer 4 questions correctly wins!

Here’s a contest that everyone can enter to win a free autographed copy of “Looking Back: Boomers Remember History from the ’40s to the Present.” These are four of the questions asked on the test on which the average score was 53.2 percent. The first person to send the correct answers to me at portable.writer@yahoo.com will win. If you want to further test your skills on history and civics, you’ll find the 60-multiple choice questions given to students at Intercollegiate Studies Institute Web site: www.isi.org. Good luck!

1) Which of the following are the unalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence?
A. Life, liberty, and property
B. Honor, liberty, and peace
C. Liberty, health, and community
D. Life, respect, and equal protection
E. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

2) The phrase that in America there should be a “wall of separation” between church and state appears in:
A. George Washington’s Farewell Address.
B. The Mayflower Compact.
C. the Constitution.
D. the Declaration of Independence.
E. Thomas Jefferson’s letters.

3) In his “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
A. argued for the abolition of slavery.
B. advocated black separatism.
C. morally defended affirmative action.
D. expressed his hopes for racial justice and brotherhood.
E. proposed that several of America’s founding ideas were discriminatory

4) The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964) was significant because it:
A. ended the war in Korea.
B. gave President Johnson the authority to expand the scope of the Vietnam War.
C. was an attempt to take foreign policy power away from the President.
D. allowed China to become a member of the United Nations.
E. allowed for oil exploration in Southeast Asia.

NEW RELEASE - "LOOKING BACK" OUT TODAY!

The book, Looking Back is now available for sale.

LOOKING BACK: Boomers Remember History from the '40s to the Present has been a long journey, but today it was finally released for sale and can be ordered directly from the publisher. For those who prefer to order through Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com, it will take anywhere from a few days to longer to be listed there, but I can assure you that ordering through Booklocker is safe since I've ordered books from them for a couple of years now and have never encountered any problems.

Looking Back is a poignant recollection of history as seen through the eyes of those who lived it, and in addition to the timeline and personal memories I include throughout the book, it also includes 22 essays and 2 poems by contributors who recall the events that defined the lives and times of boomers. There are stories of assassinations, riots, war, the counter-culture, suffering, loss, fear, and great expectations, and run the gamut from one that remembers the Confederacy as a backdrop to later civil rights struggles that would take place in the '50s and '60s, to September 11, 2001, then to Hurricane Katrina. This book is history told from a personal perspective, so history comes alive through these words by people who were there - who witnessed it all.

Order your copy of Looking Back by clicking on the link below the book cover image on left side of screen, or go to http://www.booklocker.com/books/3056.html to read an excerpt and to order. The book is 6x9 inches and 216 pages in length, paperback. Unfortunately, the cover photo to the left is distorted and I haven't figured out how to make it proportional!

I'm sure you will enjoy reading about this emotional era in history as much as I enjoyed compiling the book!

LOOKING BACK available in only a few days!

The past few weeks have been sheer torture waiting for the new book to be published. The first copy of the book is finally on its way to me, and hopefully I'll have it in my hands in a couple of days. After I review the first copy, it's simply a matter of me letting the publisher know to go ahead and release the book to the public. At that time I'll post on this site, and let those who have already contacted me know by email, how you can get your own copy.

A brochure is available for anyone who wants a copy. Email me at portable.writer@yahoo.com. Please send your address so I can mail it -- or I've saved in it MS Word and can send it by email if you prefer.

Never one to sit by idly waiting for time to pass, I've already started on a sequel to the book, tentatively titled: Looking Back at the Way We Were. This will be more of a nostalgic view of the boomer's years, but will also feature essays that contain references to history and how it affected individual lives and the times. If you're interested in being a part of this new book, please contact me at the above email address so I can get a list started and email you the guidelines.

Thanks to everyone who helped me with Looking Back: Boomers Remember History. Without you, it might have become simply another boring history book!

Update on book, LOOKING BACK

Here's an update on the book, Looking Back. The proof has been approved by me, and is ready to be printed. The cover, which is absolutely beautiful by the way, has been approved by me. So now, it's just a matter of waiting for it to be printed and get into my hands.

For those who are anxiously awaiting it's release, it shouldn't be long now depending on how many jobs the printer has going. Watch for the notice here, and I'll email those who have requested an immediate heads up.

This was without a doubt the most exciting book I've worked on. I learned so much that I didn't know, or knew too little about before researching the book. Some of my opinions were changed by facts uncovered during my research. And some were reinforced.

We've lived through some terrible, tragic, and exciting moments since the '40s, and our lives have changed tremendously over the years (and not only from growing older). I write about drive-in movies, which was my generation's favorite way to watch a flick. I recall the horrors of the polio epidemic, when parents didn't allow their children to go swimming in public pools, or anywhere among crowds!

There are those memories and so many more that readers will eagerly recall. Younger readers will learn so much about their parents' and grandparents' generations and actions that paved their way and changed the world, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. Still, the experiences recalled in the book made an impact on society that will last for a long time.

Stories by 19 contributors help make this book a must-read for anyone who loves history, or anyone who hates it and wants a reason to love it. This is history as seen and lived by the book's contributors and me. We survived wars, assassinations, the counterculture, and politics. It's been an exciting ride!

LOOKING BACK: THE ESSAYS AND CONTRIBUTORS

Looking Back reveals history as seen through the eyes of those who lived it. It is a personal journey into history that tells about both the amazing and tragic moments that have defined our lives since the '40s.

So readers could actually view history through the eyes of those who were there, I invited friends, family, and several other writers to submit their stories for the book. The book is written by 19 individuals, plus myself, and includes 22 essays and two poems in addition to the running timeline and commentary on historic events. Below are brief glimpses into a few of the wonderful stories that readers will find in Looking Back, due out this month (July).

Three writers tell about World War II and how it affected their families. One talks about it from the perspective of a child, which she was at the time. Another recalls the lookout towers along the coast of Oregon, where her family stood watch to see that Japanese planes didn't stray across the coastline. One writer recalls meeting the love of her life in college following the war, and how the GI Bill helped pay for her husband's college education, then helped them purchase their first home.

One writer recalls the wonder of train travel as a child before the Interstate highway system was built. Another tells about her childhood in Cuba after Castro took control. She recalls the hardships her family faced before they were finally allowed to leave the country and come to the U.S.

Two writers (as well as I) recall the integration crisis at Little Rock Central High in 1957 as nine black students became the first to integrate a school in the South. We each remember, in our own way, how it was back then to attend school amid turmoil created by racist protestors and the media. For the first time, the perspective of three white students is expressed in this book.

One writer recalls being constantly fearful of the future as a child of the '60s and vowing that if she lived to be a "grown-up," she would do something. She remembers finally meeting some of the Russians who so frightened her as a child, and celebrates being able to do something significant for society at the dawn of the new millenium. She also contributed two poems to the book, one a poignant story about visiting The Vietnam Wall with her children, and the other about visiting a missile silo in North Dakota.

One writer's story recalls that history seemed to overlap family celebrations, first on her parent's 50th wedding anniversary on 11/22/63 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The second was on 9/11/2001, her birthday, and now she remembers those who lost their lives in that terrible tragedy each year. Others also recall 9/11. One contributor tells how the tragedy changed her life and values.

Two people tell about losing everything in Hurricane Katrina. One, a military mother of two and pregnant at the time, recalls sheltering at the military hospital with her family and sleeping on the damp floor. She tells what sustained her family. Another remembers being notified by phone that her home was gone after she and her husband had evacuated 600 miles away. She recalls the generosity of a saleslady who handed her a bag full of free cosmetics and told her, "Just because you lost it all doesn't mean you can't still look good."

One Air Force Sergeant remembers being on hand in the Philippines as POWs were returned home following brutal imprisonment in North Vietnam. His experience as part of that operation forever changed his life and his outlook on his job. Another Air Force Sergeant recalls his hair-raising trip into Saigon during the war.

Several of the stories in the book recall a variety of different events, while others recall specific challenges and moments. All of the essays and poems are wonderfully revealing of the emotions and confusion that surrounded the times and their lives.

The book's contents were written as our legacy to future generations. The stories and poems display the generosity, resilience, and "can-do" attitude that have always driven and sustained the wonderful people who call this country home.