Oh, Beautiful: An American Family in the 20th Century

AWARDED THE KIRKUS STAR! NAMED TO KIRKUS REVIEWS’ BEST OF 2011 LIST! 2012 INDIE READER DISCOVERY AWARD WINNER! 2012 ERIC HOFFER BOOK AWARD RECIPIENT! INDIE BOOK AWARDS FINALIST IN TWO CATEGORIES! An extended Italian immigrant family clings to community life amid tragedy, the Spanish flu, Prohibition, and the Great Depression. A broken Polish immigrant family leaves a legacy of heartbreak, separation, Civilian Conservation Corps redemption, and World War II heroism. From these dissimilar backgrounds emerges a quintessential American family, one whose members embody the conflicting social movements of their times: a staunchly Catholic Polish immigrant U.S. Marine Corps father, an emotionally effusive Italian mother, an Oliver North son, a Hillary Clinton daughter, a mentally ill sister, a jock brother, a lesbian rocker, and a gay male activist. In an age of bitter cultural polarization, Oh, Beautiful: An American Family in the 20th Century celebrates what has kept America together. This true story is an engrossing portrait of an American family and an evocative documentation of nearly 100 years of American history.

John Paul Godges is a research communications analyst at the RAND Corporation, one of the world’s most prestigious research institutions. In the 1990s, he was editor of New City/Pueblo Nuevo, a multilingual magazine for families and communities working to prevent substance abuse in the Latino, Armenian, and Russian immigrant neighborhoods of Los Angeles. In his volunteer time, he serves on the editorial board of The Way of St. Francis, the magazine of the Franciscan Friars of California. Godges earned an undergraduate degree in American studies from Georgetown University; a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley, where he specialized in religion and society by taking divinity courses at the nearby Graduate Theological Union; and a master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. His author website can be found at www.johnpaulgodges.com