STEPHEN ROBBINS

Actually, there’s a lot of history in this book. For example, the Hough riots and the sad history of Cleveland in the 60s draws upon documented events that actually set off one of the worst race riots in America’s past.  The names of the actual participants were changed, of course, but those who lived through it will know.

The story of the hypocrisy of the mass media preachers was a motivator for writing the book. Here to, the author borrowed heavily from events he witnessed firsthand.

They say that it’s best to “write what you know”. The uniqueness of the time period and location make it the perfect place to draw a word picture that reels in the reader and captures the mind.

It was the subject matter! Questions of faith, organized religion and dogma have always been top of mind for me.  As a senior executive in several faith-based hospitals, with very different ideas about religion than the sponsors, I had to suppress my real feelings in order to co-exist.  That led to a desire to tell the story that underlies the story in this book.

Influence is too strong a word. I’d actually say that the intent was to make people think!  I’ve come to the conclusion that what is important is that people actually open their minds to other possibilities of why we exist and whether there is one divine source of power.  To me, it doesn’t matter what conclusion you come to, just that you don’t blindly accept what others tell you they think the truth is.