Gateman

About the Book

While his country wrestles with the threat of war, Jerry Gateman wrestles with the passage of adolescence. It is 1941, and both America and Jerry are coming to adulthood. His father Jack struggles with a small town newspaper (and a history bordering alcoholism), his mother Helen copes with shortages and prices, and his sister Dorothy fl irts with Marxism. Jerry confronts highschool mores, girls and hormones, Hitler fronts, college versus career, and Wendell Willkie, the defeated Republican presidential candidate, who tries to entice Jack Gateman from his small-town refuge back to big-city living. The Gateman family leaves 1941 as the Japanese enter.

About the Author

John Sears Barker so enjoys writing that he has spent a lifetime at the inkwell. His career embraced PR writing (war-time military reporter, university publicist, and advertising copywriter), technical writing (Army manuals), and propaganda writing (with the U. S. Information Agency). From his first book, The Flight of the Liberators (1945), a history of a B-24 bomb group, to a more recent novel on the WWII invasion of Anzio, 7 Steps Down (2007), he has published news stories, magazine articles, pamphlets, manuals, short stories, and novels. He holds an MA from American University and a BA from Syracuse University (English and Journalism). After setting up households in 6 different states and 4 different countries, he retired as a Foreign Service Officer to settle – and write – in Tucson, Arizona.