The Transformation of America provides readers with a stimulating read and a sketch of growing up in pre-1960 America and contrasts those times with contemporary society. Why was this an important book for you to write?

Just before his death Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendelll Holmes talked about death tugging at his ear saying come with me. He then went on to say that there is that little finishing canter when a man has one final task to complete before death finally arrives. On my 90th birthday I decided that there was one last task I wanted to complete before death finally overtook me. And that was I wanted to write about my life in my early days and what it was like growing up in an America that the majority of the current population have no first hand knowledge of and contrast that to what life is like in America today.

There are probably thousands of books published every year and the average American cannot possibly take the time to read through many books containing hundreds of pages. In fact, many of these books probably go largely unread.  For this reason I have purposely kept my book short but I am confident that I have been able to include the most essential aspects of the issues I have discussed in a clear, concise and unbiased manner. By eliminating surplus and irrelevant words the impact is much more likely to leave the reader with much to think about.

Our Country has changed greatly over the past decades and it will continue to change in future decades. I have tried to highlight in an accurate and unbiased manner the major issues facing the American people today and have attempted to provide solutions to them. Realizing that everyone who reads this book will derive their own conclusions and may or may not agree with everything I say I will simply leave it as a legacy to be judged on its merits alone.

I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?

Writing this book was not difficult as writing comes easily to me and I have simply described things in what I consider to be a fair, accurate and unbiased manner. Perhaps writing the book did bring back some moments of sadness when I briefly described the relationship I had with a young Japanese woman while on leave from Korea. It  was a very happy relationship and I remember our last night together before I had to return to Korea when we were both in tears. But I returned home, got married and resumed my life. About ten years ago I wrote her a letter as she had given me an address. The letter came back two months later undelivered with Japanese writing all over it. I then contacted the Japanese Embassy. They suggested I should contact the City of Tokyo which I did. I received a very nice email from a City Official telling me how impressed he was that I was still interested in this woman but saying that there was no way they could trace her and that in any event they could not give out personal information. Two days later I received a second email from this City Official telling me how sorry he was that they could not help me. He went on to tell me that his father had served on a Japanese submarine during the war and that  he was still alive and not to hesitate to contact him if he could be of help in the future. As for the Japanese woman, our love affair turned out to be a case of two ships passing in the night but there will always be a place for her in my heart and I hope someday to meet up with her in the next world so we can spend eternity together.

What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?

My purpose in writing this book was two fold. One was to provide a glimpse of what it was like growing up in the 1940s and 1950s and to show how the Country began to change during the 1960s. We went from a nation of tranquility and innocence to a nation of liberalism creating a whole spectrum of problems that have only grown worse leading to a violent and divided nation today. The second purpose of the book is to describe the major issues facing the American people today and an attempt to provide some satisfactory solutions in solving them.

What do you hope is one thing readers take away from this book?

Our Country is approaching the crossroads between democracy and dictatorship. We have gone from the wishes of our forefathers for a government of the people by the people and for the people to where government is gaining more and more control over the people often ignoring the will of a majority of the people. Our Country must be governed by the will of a majority of the American people. It is up to the American people to unite and rise up to ensure that freedom, democracy and the right of individual choice will always be preserved.

Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2023/02/11/approaching-the-crossroads/