About The Book
About The Book
Morocco
Open this book and take a magic carpet ride through times, places and events so fantastical that many won’t even seem real—but I assure you that they were. All of them, every one of them, really happened.
I hope you enjoy reading this book half as much as I enjoyed writing it. It was a labor of love for me to reach back and re-create my formative years, ages 5 to 7, growing up as the son of a U.S. Navy pilot in Port Lyautey, French Morocco, during the mid-1950’s, at a time when Morocco was the epicenter of the United States’ Cold War efforts to deter and contain the Soviet Union through aerial reconnaissance and nuclear weapons.
During my time in Morocco, the country’s Berber/rural and Arab/urban populations became united in their efforts to rid themselves of the French colonists who had taken over their country as a result of the Treaty of Fez, executed in 1912—an effort that in numerous ways paralleled the struggle of Black Americans to attain their civil rights during the 1950’s.
In addition to relating my personal experiences, both humorous and telling, dealing with the family dynamics of a Navy brat, I describe the many ways in which my life intersected the cross-currents emanating from the Cold War and colonialism.
To explore the unique relationship between the country’s Berber and Arab populations, I delve into Morocco’s incredibly long, colorful and interesting history, as well as the religious and cultural beliefs that have combined to produce what is, arguably, the most open, friendly and egalitarian human population on the planet.
Finally, I make the case that the Moroccan ethos, which is centered on family and community, provides humanity with a far better path forward than one focused on the attainment of individual power, prestige and wealth.
