Six New Books

by Lou Guzzo

“She Should Have Been President:  The Wisdom of Dixy Lee Ray” --- A book that should be read by all presidential candidates and every American.

“She Should Have Been President” Dr. Dixy Lee Ray, once revered and loved by the news media, refused to buckle and kowtow to reporters, and they turned against her when they discovered she was a confirmed conservative. Nevertheless, she stuck to her guns and followed her honest and often ingenious programs in public service. Her remarkable ideas, developed in this book, would have made her a superior President, regardless of the opinions of the Liberal press. Her remarkable energy report to the President, for example, would have solved the nation’s reliance on foreign oil. She also had ingenious ideas for preserving precious water, reducing air pollution, and solving many other environmental problems. The controversial Dr. Ray had many detractors, but she had far more friends and supporters --- as well as people around the world who heard her dynamic speeches or read the two books she and I co-authored, Trashing the Planet and Environmental Overkill, each of which sold in excess of a quarter million copies (The hard copy was published by Regnery and the paperback by HarperCollins). Actually, this would have been our third book together; we began assembling it the year she died, 1994. It is a remarkable book of ideas and it also espouses Conservative philosophy on occasion. I know from experience that promotion will sell this book, because of the many thousands of admirers Dixy had in the U.S. and abroad. A list of people who bought our two books may be available for promotional purposes.

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“Romulus and Remus:  A Modern Parable” --- A stirring tale of two young Italian - Americans who refute the Mafia ideology stressed by Hollywood movies.

This quasi-fictional novel is based on two actual characters who grew up in Little Italy in a city that is left unidentified.  The two young men are of Italian extraction.  One, Joey, is the son of the city’s Mafia leader (or capo) and rebels against what his father represents.  He becomes the close friend of his college pal, Guy, who is to become a crime-buster and investigative reporter.  As they grow closer on the city’s college campus, Joey draws the sympathy and support of all other students and is a football hero, as well.  His courage in speaking out against the Mafia wins the admiration of everyone who meets him.  He and Guy are inseparable;  they dub themselves Romulus and Remus after the mythical founders of Rome.  Joey’s mother, also caught in the Mafia trap, tries to take him out of the trap with frequent visits abroad, including to Italy.  Guy joins the city’s leading newspaper and soon is elevated to one of its chief anti-crime investigators.  Through it all, Joey and Guy maintain their close friendship --- until Guy’s own newspaper unfairly implicates Joey in Mafia activities, despite Guy’s protestations.  The denouement is dramatic and tragic.

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“When Did I Die?”:  Richard Lachman, the Artist America Forgot” --- The true story of a jewelry salesman who overcame mental illness to become a master artist.

“When Did I Die?” --- Also a true story, this is a coffee-table book, complete with multi-color reproductions of the extraordinary art work of Richard M. Lachman. I have sub-titled the book, “Richard Lachman, the Artist America Forgot,” because he has become well known in European and Japanese art galleries and museums --- and to professional men and women in this country but not yet to the general population. Lachman grew up in Seattle, the son of a jeweler and a mother who was for years the leading docent at the Seattle Art Museum. Through a terrible accident, he was rendered insane and was treated in hospitals in San Francisco and the Seattle area. In the locked wards of the asylums, he began to draw sketches of the other denizens --- the nurses, doctors, guards, and other patients. Eventually, he discovered an artistic talent he had never dreamed he had. His treatment, unfortunately, included regular doses of a strong medicine which was the main contributor to his insanity. After nearly ten years, a nationally noted Bellevue psychiatrist (Dr. Raymond Vath) discovered that it was the medication that had rendered Lachman insane, withdrew him through a very painful four-month procedure, and brought him back to the sanity he now enjoys. Lachman, once a jeweler, like his father, now began to enjoy life as a full-fledged artist, although he can’t seem to draw the notice of the area’s leading art critics. Nevertheless, his fame has grown abroad and with doctors and lawyers in California, Nevada, and in a few other areas. Even today, however, he has still not received the acclaim I know he has coming. An international exhibition of his work is included in a show that was assembled by the World Psychiatric Association and made an important part of that group’s international conference in Hamburg in 2001. Lachman is the lead artist in the exhibition, which is making the rounds of European capitals, is due in Japan later this year, and will finally come to the U.S. at the end of this year.

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“F! D! F! (Fire! Dammit! Fire!): A Feast of New Ideas” --- A treasure for all those seeking bold new ideas in all fields of endeavor.

“Fire! Dammit! Fire! (A Feast of New Ideas)” --- This is my collection of startling, imaginative new ideas in every field imaginable --- from politics and government to all the arts and sports. I guarantee these ideas will create tremendous interest. Some of them were first offered in newspaper columns I wrote, TV commentaries I delivered, or in the many speeches I made while on the national circuit. The title is drawn from an old joke that has stuck with me through the years. A worker fell into a huge chocolate vat in a candy factory and could not draw any help with his screams. Finally, he began shouting “Fire! Dammit! Fire!” and was quickly rescued. When questioned by his rescuers, he responded: “Would you have come if I had yelled ‘Chocolate! Dammit! Chocolate’?” In effect, then, I am shouting “Fire! Dammit! Fire!” in the hope that some imaginative souls will be attracted by some of my ideas and run with them!

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“A Soul Reclaimed:  A Young Woman’s Escape From Sexual Slavery and Servitude” --- A dramatic, true-life story of an extraordinary escape from abuse.

“A Soul Reclaimed” --- This book is made-to-order for women but should also appeal to men because of its dramatic story.  It is also a true story that involves a young woman I once worked with who didn’t tell me about her ordeal until years later.  Abused by her father as a child and later by an employer who made a sex slave of her, she finally broke away and reconstructed her life.  Today she is a very successful business woman working alongside her husband in Pennsylvania. 

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“Masseur!  Chronicle of an International Rascal” --- Another true-life story of a Cockney whose romantic adventures are mind-boggling.

“Masseur” --- This true story is a potential blockbuster, not only in the U.S. but in Great Britain, as well.  Arthur Mason, a Cockney who grew up in the turbulent, crime-ridden section of London, followed in the footsteps of his father, Arthur, Sr., who was a masseur to royalty and political leaders like Winston Churchill.  Young Arthur broke away from the criminal life of his Cockney friends and also became a masseur and a world traveler.  He also married one of England’s leading movie lights, Vera Day.  I met him when he moved to Seattle to set up shop as a masseur.  As the managing editor of a crime-busting newspaper (Seattle P-I), I had let it be known through the grapevine that I was looking for someone who could crack the West Coast drug-and-prostitution chain we knew existed.  When he told me his extraordinary life story, I began to tape him at great length.  Mason’s involvement with world leaders, royalty (including the sex-mad Farouk), and film stars (including Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier, Liberace, etc.) was incredibly fascinating.  As is evident, this book is risque, sex-ridden, and eye-opening.  It is bound to sell well in England because of his early association with London cutthroats and gangsters, as well as the elite. 

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