JUST RELEASED!
EVERYMAN IS AN ISLAND is a collection of humorous essays and ruminations about the way it is in this country--for white menfolks particularly. An old English professor looks back at his past, ponders the rapid deterioration of the public school system in this country, the growing lack of respect for teachers on all levels, and the lowly position to which the white male has found himself.
It is difficult to say just what kind of a book this is (Everybody likes to have a 'handle' on things): Is it nothing more than a collection of silly essays? Or is it a primarily a travel book (The Professor did travel some when he was younger, and his record of trips to the Fiji islands, central Mexico, and the Cornwall seacoast of England are quite amusing at times).
There are a number of strong themes in this book, but the one that begins with the title and continues to the last page is man's (and probably woman's) aloneness on island Earth. The Professor is not suggesting that men (in particular) are incapable of love and sympathy, that they don't need someone else. His strongest point is that men (white ones in particular) just simply cannot share (on an equal basis) the pain and suffering of another person all the way to the grave. They cannot accompany their 'beloved' to the grave. Eventually, everyone has to go it alone.
Here also, perhaps for the first time, is a frank discussion of the status of the white male in America today. Like the Native American male, who once reigned supreme in this country, the Caucasian male has come down to the ignoble position of 'Second Class Citizen', a position very close to that of the white female in earlier times. And to be an American white male 'writer' today is tantamount to being a leper during biblical times.
Everyman Is an Island is available at the publishers (NovelMaker.com), Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, and twelve hundred other Internet places (and can be had by calling any reputable brick-and-mortar bookstore. It is a 6X9 paperback, 274 pages, and sells for $15.00.
