The Fort Showalter Blues - By Harold L. Johnson

Format: Paperback Used

Condition: Very Good

This copy of The Fort Showalter Blues is in very good condition. It's has minimal use, the binding is tight, the pages are flat, and the inside is clean with no markings. A very good copy.

Book Overview:

It's after the Korean War and before the Vietnam disaster, years when the U.S. government still had enough credibility and authority to draft young men into military service. Joseph Birdsong, an optimistic young African-American from small-town Washington state, goes to the city--Portland, Oregon--for college in pursuit of his dream of success in life, encouraged by success he had enjoyed in school as a student, fair athlete, but especially as a musician. Having grown up in an essentially white environment, his identity as a Black American had only begun to come home to him as he left high school. He works his way through college, but life in the city becomes complicated by difficulties of his own creation that lead to his induction into the army. In the army, Joe encounters the meat and bone reality of a considerable cross section of young American males. He meets crucial personalities among his fellow soldiers and in El Paso where he is stationed, individuals who consciously or unconsciously support the emergence of his greater awareness of who he is and what he'd best be doing. Joe begins to get the idea of a viable path for himself through the often dangerous physical and psychic maze of American daily life and culture. By story's end, he might be ready for his big journey.

About the Author: 

Harold Johnson is a lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest. His childhood years were coeval with World War II, which he remembers as a time of great focus in the nation and tranquility in the Yakima Valley where he was born. After high school, he moved to Portland, Oregon, for college and work. Between the Korean and Vietnam wars, he spent two years in the U.S. Army, after which he returned to Portland where he married, taught English, studied music and earned a graduate degree in visual art. He has published two chapbooks and the volume Citizenship, poems by Harold Johnson (Many Voice Press). He lives in Portland with his wife, the painter Anne Johnson.

Details:

• Paperback: 394 pages
• Publisher: Harold L. Johnson (January 15, 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0692228845
• ISBN-13: 978-0692228845
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds