Is That All There Is?: An American Story

Overview of Is That All There Is? Is That All There Is? is the interesting and entertaining adventure narrative of an American whose life begins under less than auspicious circumstances in small town Middle America and serves as the "thread of personal experience to chronicle" the real history of contemporary America as he matures through trials, tribulations and successes in relationships and encounters with cultural, geographic, racial and social issues, discrimination and differences in American life in the military, sex, politics, business, entertainment, and religion, exposing the reality and import of historical events and affairs in contemporary American history through his socioeconomically, culturally, educationally, geographically wide ranging and diverse lifetime during which multiple pictures of life in America and its effects at home and on the world abroad are developed. In Part I the character development of our "thread" and country, and the foundation for much of what happens post the ostensibly best days of America are the focus. In Part II his knowledge and scope are expanded through military experiences and socioeconomic advancement via "upward mobility" afforded through education and business. In subsequent installments he expands his experiences into two dozen countries and four continents as Officer of an international company, continuing to encounter and overcome obstacles of cultural and economic differences, and government agencies in the U.S., Australasia, Europe and Latin America to achieve a life near the top of the "American Dream," finding life can be mostly beautiful as he envisaged until... eventually, tired, drained, disappointed, disillusioned and disenchanted, he heads back to the Middle America of his beginning to settle into a life as more observer than participant, to be interrupted personally by the perpetual Nemeses of his government, as is the life of his country that has greatly changed, and experiences diametrically opposed to those in earlier Parts... of decline rather than growth and progress... until he is driven to conclude; yes, that Is All There Is. The intent of this work is to... by removing the intellectual rigor and boredom of concepts, and as entertainingly as possible, through life experiences, inform about changes that have affected us, but most refuse to think about, preferring the comfort of accepting and choosing to believe, rather than thinking... lead the reader, who normally reads just for entertainment and escapism - not knowledge, to think about what is happening to him and his world, where we are today, how we got here, and light a spark of initiative to encourage him to desire to continue to read, learn and think about the faith, culture and values that made America great. It should be interesting to older Americans who will identify with much of it as well as younger Americans interested in their country's real history and how it has resulted in the situations that affect them and their future.