The Green And The Blonde: An American Journey - Paperback

"Destiny is what you are supposed to do in life. Fate is what kicks you in the ass to make you do it." With these opening words by the venerable American writer, Henry Miller, a young man named Sean McAllister begins an American journey across the landscape of America. The year is 1968, a time of assassination, war, and tumultuous change. Within the drumbeat and searing divisions of Vietnam, McAllister, like so many of his generation, takes to the streets in student protest, finds his way to Woodstock, hitchhikes across the continent, before suffering the disability of a first lost love. Meanwhile, Tom Sullivan returns from the insanity of war. Sullivan is torn, conflicted, feeling as if a stranger in a country called 'home'. Marty Johnson returns as well, appearing unscathed. Derrick Mulcahey lives a life on the run, a dodger and deserter from a calling he chooses not to commit. Valerie Williams, a flower-child dancing amongst the streets of San Francisco, sees her wishes for peace and love shatter before her eyes, while finding herself with child. All are seeking some escape, a place to believe and love again, away from a world that seems out their control, of which they want no part. Eventually, the whims of fate begin to cast a careless breeze, bringing them and others to a place called Pollard Creek, to the mountain terrains of Oregon and the Great Northwest. All seeking a youthful dream they hope will sustain them. It is the land of the green and the blonde. Each one has a destiny that begins to unfold, individual in its construct and circumstance, as the consequences of time and maturation shape their coming of age. The only question unconsciously before them, is where it will lead. Seen through the historical prism of context and geography, "The Green And The Blonde" explores a unique and slowly forgotten time in America. John Thomas Baker presents an honest portrait of a post-war generation that answered a siren's call. And despite the mythic revisionisms that often transpire, it remains an American journey like so many that have come before.