Summer of '65. Kids. Baseball. Young love. Mysteries. Wildfires. A monster. A miracle. A call to arms. The book is dedicated to the Armed Forces of the United States. The story is a tribute to four soldiers, each from a different war: WW I, WW II, Korea, and Vietnam. It is a story of all men and women who have served-a celebration of their valor, their honor, their love of country. It is a testament to wounds suffered, to sacrifice, to lives lost. It is a legacy held in reverence and never to be forgotten. A great American novel. Classic. Epic! Beautiful. plants the seeds of a weblike mystery early on. A graphic WWI battle introduces the action. The story then draws the reader in emotionally as four abandoned goats bleat plaintively on a lonely hilltop. Most of the content takes place in the mid-1960s: a period of severe political and racial unrest; a time of The Beatles, Muhammad Ali, Superballs, Barbie dolls, pegged pants, miniskirts, The Sound of Music, To Kill a Mockingbird, and the Vietnam war. At the heart of the story is a small farming community and a group of kids who spend their summer playing baseball, bugging each other, learning about life, facing schoolyard justice, and discovering the passions and pitfalls of young love. Times are hard. The social issues of broken families, domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental illness are woven into the plot. Tension builds, thrills abound, and the mystery grows. Cultural immersion and character depth bring the scenes to life. Tears of joy and sorrow flow. Wildfires set the forests ablaze, riots set the country afire, and an escalating jungle war divides the nation. is a mixed-genre book with literary underpinnings-a unique and poignant chronicle that readers will never forget. A book like this comes along only once in a lifetime-Les Ledbetter, editor, Rain Hill Publishing