To make my story readable I built it around a series of personal episodes but you will notice that each episode is rich in historic details. Navigating this site thus gives a sense of the important history of the 150 year period covered. There is a full account of the continuous march of technology, intimate glimpses of the immigration to America, the inside story about slavery, the resulting Civil War of the 1860s and its consequences, the frontier life in the “West,” the depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, the magic of higher education, personal vignettes of the culture of other countries, China, France, Mexico, Brazil; even a moral framework for life, an exclusive first hand treatise on how Silicon Valley works to produce new products and new millionaires, and finally the secrets of making fine wine and the joy of making fine music. My frankness about many subjects and my somewhat off-color treatment of others would not be permissible in a normal history book. If you take the time to view the entire site you will get a comprehensive review of the history of our times that may influence some of your ideas for the good.

All the events told here really happened; there is no exaggerating or rewriting of history. The personal adventures included are played against the world history of the time so that is the way you get the “inside” history of the last 150 years, a period marked by unprecedented change.

William E Jarvis