Why write such a book about your life? James McGee addresses this question right away: “Maybe I have taken the time to write these memories because the urge to keep recollection alive beyond its natural span seems to be a pervasive human impulse: one need only look at the grand monuments in cemeteries to grasp this—the need to say to posterity: I was here. Here I am.” This account starts back 500 years. In the process of reviewing McGee family history the reader learns some interesting facts. For example, trans-Atlantic journeys, which lasted about two months, had a death rate of about 30% in the typical crossing, and, a Civil War soldier received a $25 enlistment bonus and pay of $13 per month. I love the photograph of McGee’s great grandparents: a stern woman standing apart from her husband, who, hat pushed back, is looking out into the distance. McGee’s details convey different times beautifully. As a boy James would come home from school and go to the garage where a crock of home-made sauerkraut was kept and dig out a handful of the briny treat that felt deliciously cool after his hot walk home.

There are some haunting locations too, such as the crypt with a monument to German World War II soldiers that proclaims: “Sie Verden Auferstehen” (They shall arise). Is this meant religiously or politically? McGee asks. Even when the narrative deteriorates into a travelogue-- the trip to Denmark (“Nice People…”), Norway (“More Nice People…”) and Sweden (“Another Scenic Country”) or the swing through New England and Canada--and it seems we are at a friend’s house watching endless slides of his or her vacation--we know we’re in good hands of someone who makes references to Existentialism, the poetry of A. E. Housman or dares give us a critical reaction to Billy Graham’s arrogant certainty at a “Crusade.” The author often asks hard questions of those he meets--questions a reader wants answers to but might be too timid to ask. There is also a refreshing honesty. For example, when talking about basic training in the Army, he says: “One of the men took 24 rounds of ammunition from the range and was planning to shoot his Sergeant. (The Sergeant was only #5 on my list!)”