The Teaching Of Don Vaughan: A Yankee's Way Of Knowledge is a novel written for mature readers. It was inspired by the anthropologist Carlos Castaneda's novel, The Teachings Of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way Of Knowledge, but does not follow it very closely because the characters protested and insisted that their own stories be told. In Yankee's Way, two men, each dying in his own way, meet by chance and undertake to save each other. One, a young physician, has a moribund soul. The other, and elderly farmer, presents himself to a river bank to die and have his body reclaimed by nature. There are complications, of course, not the least of which is the working of her wiles by a coquette who herself is troubled. Yankee's Way takes itself seriously but not overly so. Pathos, humor, and philosophy coexist in Yankee's Way.