The Truth [Paperback]

Mike Palecek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2003

Saint Rose is a small Midwestern community. A place where people still know their neighbors and the better portion of the population will show up to cheer on the kids at high school sporting events. It's tacitly assumed that no one would dare step too much out of line or try to stand out too much as an individual. After all, you only have to mess up once... They'll never stop talking about the easy pop fly that got dropped when it should have been caught or the Letter to the Editor that did not follow the coffee shop party line. ...

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mike Palecek is: a former federal prisoner for peace a small-town newspaper reporter, editor and publisher the Iowa Democratic Party nominee for Congress, Fifth District, 2000 In 1979, Mike attended St. John Vianney, a Catholic seminary on campus at the College of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. He left seminary in 1980 to go to New York City and volunteer at The Catholic Worker, on the Bowery. During the 1980s the Paleceks lived in a resistance community in north Omaha.

Product Details

• Paperback: 24 pages
• Publisher: Writers Publishing Cooperative (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930149263
• ISBN-13: 978-1930149267
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,946,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The truth, March 4, 2004

By 

Sheila Conroy (Athens, Greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Truth (Paperback)

The Truth
By Mike Palecek
(Writers Publishing Cooperative 223pp)

Against the backdrop of history, we have the story of a small-town mailman - whose son is one of the U.S. casualties during the Occupation of Iraq - and his almost inevitable realization of the cruel, deceptive and cynical context within which many sons and daughters continue to sacrifice their lives..

Mike Palecek's latest book `The Truth' is a vital book on a vital subject: Democracy (of any definition) is threatened in the United States more than any time in her history - not only by the erosive events enacted by the Bush Administration (and the events are many, both in domestic and foreign affairs), but also by the inertia in response, or non-response, by a truly frightening number of the American public.

The book is organized with even-numbered pages carrying quotes of significance to the point of the lockdown of America (from Goebbels, from Goering, from Ari Fleischer, - but also the wonderful and inspiring words of such human beings as St. Augustine, as Thomas Jefferson, as well as writers and thinkers and journalists ranging from Helen Thomas to William Shakespeare..) and the odd-numbered pages relate the story of Pete Penny. Either the quotes alone or the story would be fully satisfying, but together they serve in creating an acute tension of the individual life in historical context. This same tension is further played out in the very very funny sections that run throughout an otherwise almost Kafkaesque unraveling of the life of one man. The extremely comic attend the tragic of both the story and history's narrative - just as the ludicrousness of an absurd `President' underline the daily horror: The horror of the Administration's avarice and lies in a bloodshed which shows no signs of abating; the mockery and indifference to much that the American people have valued; the ravaging of any American dream.

It is without hesitation that I urge everyone to read this book: For those who are lost in the chaotic events of our times, it is illuminating; for those who are familiar with the aspects that Mike describes, his lucidity and fine perceptions further organize our thinking.

`"I found out the truth, man, but it's better to stay stupid, go to ball games, smoke cigarettes and fish from the shore. Figuring it out's not the hard part. It's what are you gonna do, now, man? That's when it gets tough. What you gonna do now?"'

- Sheila Conroy

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