Mr. Dolge's Money inspired by the final days of a visionary
German-American industrialist best known as a forerunner of Social Security, is now in paperback at Amazon as well as in the original ebook
format.
Following
the collapse of his utopian dreams in Dolgeville, NY in 1898, Alfred
Dolge went on to build a new fortune and a new Dolgeville in
California. The central character of the
novel is Rudolf’s son, Jose or Joseph Dolge, who travels from Venezuela to
California in the closing days of World War I in search of his
grandparents.
After
getting to know his grandson, Dolge dispatches the young man to
Europe by the only route then open, across the Pacific to
Vladivostok. The boy’s mission is to gain access to millions of
dollars hidden away from his grandfather’s creditors and to direct
that money into the hands of the German socialists struggling to
wrest control of their devastated nation.
With
the old monarchies in collapse, violent new forces of the Left and
Right are provoking chaos in Russia and Germany. Joseph barely
survives a rail journey across Russia, fleeing the Bolshevik terror
into Ukraine and coming to Berlin just as outright war breaks out
between the Spartacists and the Friekorps. Beset by treachery on
every side, he sees Rosa Luxembourg murdered and is held prisoner by
a crazed band of anti-Semites who will become the leaders of the Nazi
party. And then, Alfred and Anna Dolge make their last trip to the
old country with the goal of saving their beloved grandson.
(For
more on Dolge, see Mr. Dolge’s Money and The Downfall of Alfred Dolge)
Each
of the five stories or novelas collected in this volume have been
sold as e-book singles at 99 cents and remain available in that
format. The stories, sharing a common link to New York history, are
set in the twentieth century except for “You Don’t Need a Weatherman” which imagines a near future in which climate
change has drastically changed our local landscape. The retired
couple at the center of the story live in a time when climate change
denial persists even after the sea has covered New York City.
“The Wobbly and The Witch Girl” is set in the immediate aftermath
of World War I when repressive forces targeted radicals and misfits
of every sort. Fleeing the draft to New York City, Tom Ryan is
befriended by the anarchist leaders Carlo Tresca and Elizabeth Gurley
Flynn. They send him north to organize the workers of the Julliard
factory in Stottville, NY and from there he flees the law into the
isolated hill country of Columbia County where he discovers a people
who have lived part from the outer world for a century. Here Tom
falls in love with a girl who has inherited strange powers from her
distant Puritan ancestress.
“The Real Twentieth Hijacker” is inspired by my teaching at
Laguardia Community College at the time of the terrorist attacks on
the World Trade Center. The main character is a young Muslim
immigrant who is drawn into the 9-11 conspiracy only to break away
from the other plotters when he falls in love with an American girl.
“Her Name Was Margarita” is loosely based on my experiences with a
Fordham University project in Mexico in 1966. Beginning with marches
against the war in Viet Nam, the scene then shifts to the province of
Vera Cruz where the title character encounters a force or power that
her faith cannot explain.
“A Good Catholic Girl” is based on the murder of a parochial
school girl by a deranged young man she barely knew. In my version of
this tragedy, set in the Irish Catholic neighborhood of the North
Bronx, she manages to turn the tables on her stalker.
Previously
available on Kindle, this is one of only two non-fiction works I have
written and describes educational philosophy and practice at a small
public school in the South Bronx, Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High
School, from 2003 to 2009. The innovative portfolio assessment and
interdisciplinary curriculum at Fannie Lou was based on the
philosophy of the Coalition of Essential Schools and offers a
valuable alternative to the standardized data-driven models now in
favor in New York state and the nation. In a genuine tragedy for
public education, the Coalition for Essential Schools was compelled
to cease operations in March, 2017. This has made it even more
important to preserve and publicize the truly student-centered
learning environment as CES schools like Fannie Lou. As part of that
effort, this book will also be available
as a free PDF at
Lulu.com.
The
work at Fannie Lou and other small public high schools was supported
by the National Academy for Excellent Teaching at Columbia University
Teachers College. NAFET was unfortunately dependent on foundation
funds invested with the Madoff ponzi scheme and ceased operations in
2009.
Art and Humanities class at Fannie Lou
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