My Very Best Stories

Résumé du livre

This book is a collection of stories that give unique views of President Eisenhower, Burl Ives, Bill Gates, and many other luminaries. The stories are also drawn from a number of countries of the world. They follow carefully the life of the author from his boyhood to his geekhood. The author has lived in such places as Oklahoma, Canada, SouthAfrica, and Japan and has gleaned from each country a litany of interesting and valuable stories. n the mid 1950s, desegregation was the hot issue. The author decided to attempt to enroll in an all-black university. He chose Atlanta University, a prestigious black institution. He was successful, and became the first white student to explore the reverse reality of prejudice. -- During the 1960s the Congo massacres were the headlines of the world's newspapers. The author went to the Congo to see the problem for himself and while there he ran into a guerilla action and barely escaped with his life.-- He visited a leper colony in Swaziland and toured the small leper village as a guest of the director of the colony. He recalls being served luncheon by lepers.-- He was in Saigon in the early days of its war, and narrowly missed the bombing of the Army Officers' hotel.-- He was in Havana, Cuba the week before Fidel Castro seized power. A car loaded with rebels sprayed the street with machine gun fire as he ducked into a doorway for safety. He left Cuba quickly.-- He visited the site where seven American missionaries were killed on the shores of the Amazon river in Ecuador. A side trip lead to hunting alligators at midnight. He and a couple of missionaries caught three alligators, and ignored the thousands of piranha. -- The week after the Six-Day-War, he visited Israel and saw several tanks still smoldering on the battlefield. He avoided a rocket attack at the Sea of Galilee one late night. -- He was the guest of the South African government for a three-week fact finding mission and visited several black universities and hospitals. -- He traveled the upper regions of Mozambique where lions and mambas were a constant threat. Natives lived in constant fear of their lives in that harsh environment.n the mid 1950s, desegregation was the hot issue. The author decided to attempt to enroll in an all-black university. He chose Atlanta University, a prestigious black institution. He was successful, and became the first white student to explore the reverse reality of prejudice. -- During the 1960s the Congo massacres were the headlines of the world's newspapers. The author went to the Congo to see the problem for himself and while there he ran into a guerilla action and barely escaped with his life.-- He visited a leper colony in Swaziland and toured the small leper village as a guest of the director of the colony. He recalls being served luncheon by lepers.-- He was in Saigon in the early days of its war, and narrowly missed the bombing of the Army Officers' hotel.-- He was in Havana, Cuba the week before Fidel Castro seized power. A car loaded with rebels sprayed the street with machine gun fire as he ducked into a doorway for safety. He left Cuba quickly.-- He visited the site where seven American missionaries were killed on the shores of the Amazon river in Ecuador. A side trip lead to hunting alligators at midnight. He and a couple of missionaries caught three alligators, and ignored the thousands of piranha. -- The week after the Six-Day-War, he visited Israel and saw several tanks still smoldering on the battlefield. He avoided a rocket attack at the Sea of Galilee one late night. -- He was the guest of the South African government for a three-week fact finding mission and visited several black universities and hospitals. -- He traveled the upper regions of Mozambique where lions and mambas were a constant threat. Natives lived in constant fear of their lives in that harsh environment.