Against the War : A Novel of the Vietnam War Era

By Menge, Roland

Book Id: WPLBN0003466738
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 11.99 MB
Reproduction Date: 8/1/2014

Title:	Against the War : A Novel of the Vietnam War Era
Author:	Menge, Roland
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Fiction, Drama and Literature, Vietnam War, Counterculture, Anti-War Movement
Collections:	Authors Community, History
Historic Publication Date:	2014
Publisher:	Self-published

Member Page:	Roland Menge
Citation APA MLA Chicago Menge, B. R. (2014). Against the War : A Novel of the Vietnam War Era. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
AGAINST THE WAR follows the intertwined lives of four friends, rowing team mates, who graduate from college at the height of the Vietnam War and struggle to make decisions about the war and the military draft. Two become involved in the war, one as a combat pilot and one as a medic. The other two of the four friends, in trying to avoid the war, become involved in the “war on poverty,” the anti-war movement, and the counterculture that arises from the anti-war movement. In the course of the four and a half years covered in the novel, the four men also meet and court the women who become their eventual spouses. These women become part of the story as they position themselves with respect to the war and the women's liberation movement. In the course of this, also, the eight young people of the novel find themselves within an ever growing phenomenon involving thousands of American youths like themselves reacting to the same far-reaching dynamics of the counterculture and the war. "Menge's book reminds me of both Theodore Dreiser and John Dos Passos. It's a vast panorama with enormous attention to detail." David Willson, Vietnam War Fiction, Books in Review

Summary
AGAINST THE WAR is a historical novel examining the response of the Vietnam War generation to the Vietnam War and the effect of the war on American society. The effect described is a broad phenomenon extending from the theater of war overseas to the growing response to the war at home, as evidenced in the "war on poverty," the anti-war movement, and the counterculture that arises from the anti-war movement. The young people at the center of this story are all idealists who attempt to apply their idealism to the political and cultural issues of the time. The novel presents these issues in the same earnest spirit as they were discussed when they were new and untested, and presents them substantially through much original material from the Vietnam war era, including many news accounts that are quoted at length as the characters encounter them and try to process them into a determination of what to do in their personal lives. AGAINST THE WAR provides an intellectual and cultural history of the early counterculture, and a view of the war from the perspective of those who because of the draft were forced to react to it and who in some cases were forced or chose to risk their lives in it.

Excerpt
234. Morris is relocated from Sam Neua to a Lao village From Sam Neua, the group that included prisoner of war James Morris headed southwest, so far as he could determine from occasional glimpses of the sun through the canopy of leaves above the road on which the caravan was traveling. Then the shield of leaves dropped away briefly and Morris saw that the wagon was moving along on a road about 400 feet above a town with narrow streets and Chinese-style pagoda roofs. Some of the buildings were demolished and others were in flame. “That is Sam Neua, the actual town,” the third passenger informed. “Where was the camp then?” “Place called Xanthon. Just a few miles away.” “The damage here is from bombing?” “Yes, American planes.” “You’re a soldier?” Morris asked. The man was an American, Morris had already decided, based on the easy informality that he had learned set Americans off from other English-speaking people overseas. “No, I’m a clergyman. Catholic priest.” “Is that so?” “Yes. I’ve been working up in the mountains north of Long Thiueu for about five years. My name is Leonard Blair.” “Well, pleased to meet you, Father. I’m Jim Morris of the U.S. Air Force. And this here is Bryan Zastrowski of Air America.” “Pleased to meet you boys.” “How long have you been a captive?” “For just about a month.” “Group of soldiers came through the area I was working in. Guess they figured me for a spy.” “Well, that was not a good day!” “No, it was not.” “You speak Lao, I take it.” “I speak Lao Hmong,” the priest answered. “As I’m sure you know, there are a whole slew of Lao dialects. In most of the others, I can stumble around.” “How about this one here?” Morris inquired, nodding toward the two soldiers next to the wagon who at the moment were talking. “I more or less understand them and I can get a point across if I really need to, you know.” “Well, tell them I said to get fucked then, will you?” Zastrowski interjected. “That might not be a wise move,” the priest replied with a smile. “I don’t think they would like it. And let me tell you, Bryan, you don’t want to get these guys mad.” Zastrowski, since leaving the prison camp, had said not a word up to this one sentence. His dejected posture had not changed. He seemed to be forming a sullen resolution in his mind. “Heard they’re still fighting over the Plain of Jars,” Morris said, relaying what he had heard from his interchange with the new prisoner a few weeks before. “Oh, yes.” “Who’s getting the best of it?” “Last I heard, Vang Pao,” the priest replied. “Thanks to your planes. Are you a pilot?” “Yes.” “Well, as you’ve probably noticed, the bombings have become more intense. B-52s mostly and now and then some fighter bombers with napalm. They seem intent on clearing the entire plain of any people who support the Communists. And they’ve been successful, this time around. The bombs have driven most of the Lao Lum, the native people of the plain, who have been sympathetic to the Pathet Lao, out to the edges where they can hide in the foothills when they need to. The planes have also been hitting up here in this area, as you know, which is why we’re clearing out.” After this exchange of information, the three prisoners retreated into their own thoughts. They were moving through an area of dense forest. Based on Morris’s calculations, he gathered that they were headed almost due west, which would take them back toward the area around the Nam Ou River where his plane had gone down.

Table of Contents
PART I: UP AGAINST THE DRAFT 1. Steward brings his 1-A letter to the boat club 2. Brandt and Morris argue about the Vietnam war 3. O’Rourke steps in to bring the crew on task 4. Morris offers Steward a way out of the draft 5. Brandt asks about his dad’s experience in World War Two 6. Brandt struggles to accommodate to Mary Kass’s cultural interests 7. Brandt leaves Mary behind to avoid an audience discussion 8. Mary goes after Matt; they come upon Morris in uniform 9. Brandt rescues Morris in a fight with an antiwar demonstrator 10. Steward gets some heartfelt advice from Barbara Carpenter 11. Steward visits his draft board to ask about his status 12. Steward bores Mary’s sister, Ellen; she winds up with Morris 13. Matt and Mary discuss their relationship and make a commitment 14. VISTA trainee Brandt learns about social problems, meets Dennis Kelly 15. Steward starts Air Force ROTC camp with roommate Orin Brown 16. Steward gives the Air Force camp his sincere best effort 17. Steward “orientates” with Air Force social worker Gary Hansard 18. Brandt arrives at his assigned VISTA worksite in Crabtree, Kentucky 19. Brandt meets his boss, Fletcher Bourne, and gets shown around 20. Brandt talks to Bourne and stays overnight at Bourne’s house 21. Brandt moves in with Fletcher and his son Bumper 22. Steward starts feeling out of place in the Air Force 23. Steward races Jim Morris in an inter-base track meet 24. Steward quits the Air Force program, gets accepted to VISTA 25. Morris, with Ellen, visits Scotts Bluff, site on Oregon trail 26. Morris and Ellen share a romantic dinner in Council Bluffs 27. Morris and Ellen struggle through an awkward goodbye 28. Morris and his mother re-visit a scene from their past 29. Morris looks through his father’s wartime letters to his mother 30. Mary tries to concoct a reason to visit Matt 31. Brandt interrupts his new duties to arrange for Mary’s visit 32. Brandt, Kelly, and Harris hold their first “dog cadre” meeting 33. Steward arrives in Dulatown to replace departing VISTA Stan Yeshe 34. Steward bids Yeshe goodbye and ventures out into the community 35. Brandt picks up Mary Kass for her three-day visit 36. Matt and Mary sleep together without sex, travel to Bourne’s 37.Matt and Mary listen as Hattie Beecher defends Appalachian traditions 38. Matt and Mary part, professing their love for one another 39. Combat trainee Morris follows the national debate on the war 40. Morris warms to a fervent description of Air Force ideals 41. Morris, coached by Tom Pitt, overcomes a crisis of self-doubt 42. Steward charges into community work with an ideal of service 43. Steward tries to help Sammy Lane and ends up resented 44. Steward and Doug Thomasek visit a ghost town in Tennessee 45. Brandt observes a strip mine demonstration and assaults a deputy 46. Brandt spends the night in county jail with Birl Poling 47. Brandt reads an editorial by Fletcher Bourne advising caution 48. Brandt receives a lesson in labor history from Birl Poling 49. Steward travels home, contemplating changes in himself and his peers 50. Steward discovers the changes do not extend to his family 51. Brandt, also visiting home, notices the farm scene is fading 52. Matt finds Mary ready to address all obstacles to marriage 53. Former crew gathers to celebrate Matt and Mary’s engagement 54. Steward makes a move on Barbie Carpenter and gets rebuffed 55. Steward researches the options for a water coop in Dulatown 56. Steward goes around Dulatown explaining and promoting the water coop 57. Morris recommits himself to his ideals while missing Ellen Kass 58. Morris and Ellen, enroute to Mexico, hear of Tet Offensive 59. Morris and Ellen romance in Mexico as Tet reports continue 60. Morris and Ellen return; Morris is assigned to combat duty 61. Morris and Ellen separate, but Ellen makes her own arrangements 62. Harris leaves; Brandt and Kelly attend an MVs general meeting 63. Brandt and Kelly attend a lecture by Father Dan Riley 64. Brandt and Kelly re-start the dog cadre with a new direction 65. Brandt argues with Fletcher and strikes out on his own 66. Steward has a disappointing show for his water coop meeting 67. Coop meeting reconvenes with addition of Church of God people 68. Steward reflects on the outcome of the water coop meeting 69. Steward encounters skepticism and exclusion at his second coop meeting 70. Steward learns of the assassination of civil rights leader King 71. Steward drives up to Porcupine to talk with Doug Thomasek 72. Morris accepts Ellen in his life as world unrest continues 73. Morris follows the war while growing ever fonder of Ellen 74. Morris, in isolation training, hears about the “inner home” concept 75. Steward, O’Rourke, and Morris re-unite for Matt and Mary’s wedding 76. Morris and his mother talk about Ellen Kass and marriage 77. Morris and Ellen exchange wedding vows in a roadside chapel 78. Steward and his father Joe visit the old neighborhood together 79. Steward stops at the boat club and runs into O’Rourke 80. Steward listens as his father cautions him about his plans 81. Steward and O’Rourke hit the road to hitch to Chicago 82. Steward and O’Rourke travel through Chicago to Rogers Park 83. Steward and O’Rourke find food for thought in Patrick’s apartment 84. Steward and O’Rourke talk on a roof top in Indiana 85. Steward’s trip ends with an order to report for induction 86. O’Rourke begins as a volunteer medic, runs into Mark Chambers 87. O’Rourke works in a rural clinic for migrant farm workers 88. Matt and Mary settle into their new life in Kentucky 89. Brandt and Kelly attend a planning meeting in Simers Branch 90. Brandt and Kelly stop to see Birl Poling in Edinburg 91. MVs and Bourne attend the demonstration at Simers Branch mine 92. Mary visits Hattie Beecher to discuss a cook book project 93. Morris and Pitt attend an intelligence briefing on the war 94. Morris, with Pitt as flight leader, flies his ninth mission 95. Morris, on his way to rescue Pitt, downs a MiG 17 96. Back at Takhli, Morris and Pitt hear Sardo is dead 97. O’Rourke returns to Chicago to find it abuzz with politics 98. O’Rourke brothers attend an “unbirthday party” for Lyndon Johnson 99. O’Rourke brothers and friends join the demonstration in Grant Park 100. O’Rourke group, fleeing tear gas, winds up in SCLC march 101. O’Rourke runs into Barbara Carpenter at a parkside clinic 102. Steward prepares his statement to file as a conscientious objector 103. Steward considers whether to object to the “Vietnam war only” 104. Steward completes and mails in his claim of conscientious objection 105. Steward visits Doug Thomasek to show him his CO statement 106. Matt and Mary discuss Steward’s statement and their MV projects 107. Brandt drives over the mountains to visit Fr. Dan Riley 108. Brandt and Fr. Dan discuss political change and “sobering clarity” 109. Brandt and Fr. Dan watch a program on national discord 110. Brandt returns to find growing political tension in Lecher County 111. MVs gather for election returns as rumors spread about Poling 112. Morris and Pitt react to the election in Takhli, Thailand 113. Morris inadvertently fires on a village killing women and children 114. Morris wards off troubled thoughts as Pitt fetes Souphana Xayaphong 115. Steward visits everyone a final time and leaves Dulatown unseen 116. Steward attends his draft board interview determined to be honest 117. Steward stops at the boat club and happens on Brandt 118. Steward balances wanderlust with a desire to connect with tradition 119. A different Ellen attends a subdued Red Garter crew party 120. Morris meets Ellen in Bangkok for a week of R&R 121. Morris and Ellen find romance in Bangkok, and “allies,” also 122. Morris spends an evening with intelligence officer Orin Brown 123. Morris re-states his concern about leaving behind a fatherless child 124. Matt and Mary start their new life in Washington D.C. 125. Brandt discovers history and “strangeness” in his new urban world 126. Mary begins her graduate program in nutrition and community health 127. Steward and O’Rourke with backpacks hit the road for Chicago PART II: A HOUSE DIVIDED 128. Steward and O’Rourke depart from Chicago headed for Las Vegas 129. Steward and O’Rourke hear competing views as they enter California 130. Steward and O’Rourke visit Mark Chambers in his Pasadena apartment 131. Steward and O’Rourke begin as UFW organizers in East L.A. 132. Brandt attends a presentation about the counterculture and the war 133. Brandt finds a refuge in photography, seeks a documentary directness 134. Mary pursues her intellectual journey through her journal and correspondence 135. Steward and O’Rourke immerse themselves in meetings and picket lines 136. Steward hitches up the coast and meets a young woman 137. Steward tours mission with Art as draft status is resolved 138. Steward meets the woman again; her name is Kristine DeSolt 139. Steward gets stood up his first date with Kristine DeSolt 140. Amidst ambiguous war, Morris reassures Pitt that Vanna wants love 141. Pitt gets hit, returns to base in a crippled plane 142. Morris is best man as Pitt and Vanna get married 143. Steward’s first date with Kristine winds up hot and heavy 144. Steward calls Kristine and gets invited to a pool party 145. Steward learns about Kristine’s family past as the relationship deepens 146. Steward divides his attention between Cinco de Mayo and Kristine 147. Brandt balks at the rhetoric of revolution—peaceful or violent 148. Brandt gets stoned his first time in Houghten’s alley apartment 149. Matt and Mary argue after Mary discovers he got stoned 150. O’Rourke and then Steward leave their L.A. garage home behind 151. Steward establishes himself in Santa Barbara and calls his brother 152. Steward calls Kristine and bikes ten miles to see her 153. Steward negotiates the unpredictable turns of his romance with Kristine 154. Morris and Pitt hear about the “great irony of Laos” 155. Morris and Pitt fly on their ill-fated last mission together 156. Morris, reeling from Pitt’s death, writes a letter to Steward 157. Steward reads Morris’s letter and reacquaints himself with the war 158. Steward plots to maintain contact with Kris, winds up engaged 159. Brandt’s react to Steward’s engagement as their own lives diverge 160. Brandt and his father decide to re-roof the damaged barn 161. Brandt encounters familiar issues at home and the boat club 162. Brandt gets stoned in the barn to contemplate his heritage 163. Steward moves back to L.A. as his wedding date approaches 164. Steward and O’Rourke re-unite with friends from their activist past 165. Steward and Kristine exchange wedding vows over a pool-side fire 166. Newlyweds cruise out of California and break down in Arizona 167. Morris, in Takhli, Thailand, watches the Apollo 11 moon walk 168. On his 98th mission, Morris goes down in northeastern Laos 169. Morris plans and executes an escape plan that goes awry 170. Newlywed Steward’s happen upon the Brandt’s at the boat club 171. Steward’s land in West Virginia and meet the project personnel 172. Tom and Kris settle into a hillside apartment in Morgantown 173. Brandt’s travel with Darren, Gail, and Jane to Woodstock concert 174. Woodstock brings a sense of community amidst rain and shortages 175. The D.C. five decide to call themselves a “Woodstock family” 176. Steward tries to make sense of the Family Services WRO 177. Tom and Kris buy a car and ride up to Kingwood 178. Tom and Kris help with “welfare office day” in Kingwood 179. Morris is moved, meets another POW, Ellwood Erland 180. Erland, before being killed, warns of the “collection apparatus” 181. Medic Bill O’Rourke arrives in Vietnam for his tour of duty 182. O’Rourke starts as a triage medic at Chu Lai hospital 183. Steward’s seek a place to live, rent an isolated farmhouse 184. Steward looks for someone to serve as WRO president 185. Steward’s visit Clara Shoats then stop at Rachel Locke’s house 186. Steward’s feel increasingly isolated as mountain winter sets in 187. D.C. “Woodstock family” meets to go together to first Moratorium 188. Woodstock family and Kelly march together in first Moratorium parade 189. Mary reads newspaper accounts of Moratorium events across the nation 190. Arrival of new prisoner alerts Morris to try an escape 191. Morris executes his escape plan but find Pathet soldiers waiting 192. Steward’s drive to DC for second Moratorium, reunion with Brandt’s 193. Brandt group carries names of Vietnam dead in candlelight procession 194. Brandt friends march and then discuss Kerouac, drugs, and spirituality 195. Steward’s bid farewell to Brandt’s and return to face changes 196. O’Rourke corresponds with nurse Carpenter, arranges flight to see her 197. O’Rourke flies to Binh Thuy for a friendly welcome from Barb 198. O’Rourke romances with Barb, ending in a meeting of eyes 199. Steward’s move to busy Masontown as their money problems increase 200.Steward brothers and spouses go to see Easy Rider together 201. Steward brothers and spouses talk about dope and the war 202. Steward, in Minnesota, reconnects with tradition and his father’s “fragility” 203. Steward’s return to frozen pipes, get evicted from mobile home 204. Brandt and Houghten discuss the positive artistic effect of grass 205. Brandt keeps himself stoned as he evaluates his photographic project 206. Brandt sees Mary’s aura and tries to re-connect with her 207. Mary writes Ellen, researches for her upcoming trip to Cuba 208. Morris resorts to his “inner home” as Sam Neua changes 209. Morris listens as Xuan Than talks about “contention” and “egalitarianism” 210. Xuan Than describes the “French War” and the “American War” 211. Morris accepts refreshments at his last meeting with Xuan Than 212. Mary meets a Cuban woman doctor in a government clinic 213. Mary confronts a cadre, Xavier Cortez, about centralization in Cuba 214. Lonely Brandt completes his project stoned, finds solace in Gail 215. O’Rourke takes part in Orin Brown’s “medical civic action program” 216. O’Rourke sees Xuan Than being withheld treatment to extort information 217. O’Rourke and Brown discuss whether Xuan Than was treated properly 218. Steward resists self-compromise as a letter from Barb suggests “expectation” 219. Steward attends conference with Matt’s old colleagues, considers quitting project 220. Steward quits project; realizes Barb’s expectation is for “cultural breakthrough” 221. Steward’s and Brandt’s discuss “cultural change” (as Mary calls it) 222. Brandt’s visit Fr. Dan, talk about powers behind the scene 223. Brandt’s sense a “different time” as they continue to Kentucky 224. Brandt’s, with Kelly, meet Bourne and visit their former cabin 225. Re-union with Fletcher and Hattie leaves a strain of difference 226. Brandt’s leave Kentucky realizing that they can no longer fit in 227. O’Rourke resolves to make decisions about Barbara Carpenter and combat 228. O’Rourke volunteers for combat and woos Barbie at China Beach 229. Chance encounter moves O’Rourke a step further toward combat duty 230. Steward’s, driving toward California, observe cultural change and culture war 231. Steward’s read about the Kent State killings and continue west PART III: LOOKING FOR AMERICA 232. Steward’s arrive in Los Angeles for a summer among friends 233. Morris speculates on the war as bombing approaches Sam Neua 234. Morris is relocated from Sam Neua to a Lao village 235. Morris observes daily life in the village of Ban Hatbay 236. O’Rourke reports to 101st Airborne, is briefed by Orin Brown 237. O’Rourke begins his combat duty at Fire Support Base Ripcord 238. O’Rourke carries a wounded soldier down a dark jungle road 239. Steward tries to be supportive as Kris becomes more independent 240. Steward journals to sort out his thoughts on “cultural change” 241. Steward finds a CO assignment as Kris manages the band 242. Steward resists being controlled by the pressure to be “hip” 243. Steward’s participate in the Thunder Mountain “hippie caravan” to Bishop 244. O’Rourke hears rumors of an imminent attack on the firebase 245. O’Rourke moves out with Charlie Company to secure Hill 902 246. O’Rourke scurries to save lives as Hill 902 is attacked 247. Convalescent O’Rourke gets visited by Brown, Forland, and Barbie Carpenter 248. Steward’s leave Sunland for Tom’s new job in Winslow, Arizona 249. Steward’s get their first sense of the local Winslow scene 250. Steward’s drive to Gallup office to find “people like us” 251. “Woodstock family” drives to New Hampshire to look for land 252. “Woodstock family” discusses issues that might arise in living together 253. “Woodstock family” visits a historic commune, the Canterbury Shaker Farm 254. Steward’s host Sandy Andrews for her “open school” Indians project 255. Steward implores Kris not to invite the band to Winslow 256. As Morris is moved around, he hears tidbits of news 257. Morris, back at Ban Hatbay, looks for Mayral and Soutsada 258. Steward steps aside as the band moves into the house 259. Steward finds himself isolated and pegged as paranoid and controlling 260. After the final concert, Steward discovers Kristine with David 261. Steward travels to Phoenix to get some distance from Kris 262. O’Rourke receives a Silver Star and a combat medic badge 263. O’Rourke, his mind made up, weds Barbie in Hong Kong 264. Steward, alone again, settles into the Henry Hotel in Gallup 265. Steward and his co-workers spend Thanksgiving Day in Monument Valley 266. Brandt’s, traveling, hear Buster had heart attack, rush to Minnesota 267. Buster Brandt’s death brings reflection and a reunion with Ellen 268. Steward tries writing Kris but Mary is more substantial and loyal 269. At Minnesota Christmas, Steward finds subtle changes from the past 270. Changes in old friends lead Steward to make changes, too 271. O’Rourke heads for Khe Sanh, meets his CO Art Steward 272. No action in Dewey Canyon, but O’Rourke hears from Barb 273. O’Rourke shares beer and conversation in a bunker with Art 274. News arrives of Bumper’s injury as Brandt’s redefine their marriage 275. Brandt’s get a visit from Fletcher Bourne and amputee Bumper 276. Brandt has a bad experience on grass and decides to give it up 277. Morris realizes that Ban Hatbay is within his “inner home” 278. Morris sees Ban Hatbay bombed; tries to help Soutsada; flees 279. O’Rourke takes part in a chaotic medivac drop in Laos 280. O’Rourke is on hand as escapee Morris reaches Allied lines 281. O’Rourke goes down, shoots an enemy soldier, and is shot 282. Morris fights “dullness” as he is processed by Orin Brown 283. Morris reunites with Ellen but everything feels distant and unreal 284. Steward senses the collective search is turning toward inner consciousness 285. Steward visits Kristine in California; realizes there’s no going back 286. Steward determines to break out of his self-imposed isolation 287. Morris attends a therapy session with social worker Gary Hansard 288. Morris confronts impotence and a growing sense of war guilt 289. Morris visits his dying mother then visits Ellwood Erland’s son 290. Woodstock Family (and Kelly) move to their collective, Cranston Farm 291. New Cranston Farm owners work and scheme in happy accord 292. Mary takes charge of the sheep and assesses flock health 293. Matt finds a follower of tradition in namesake “Little Matt” 294. Steward meets new nurse Joan Shannon, old friend Doug Thomasek 295. Steward and Joan discuss “looking for America” vs. “median way” 296. Steward completes his GRE, then goes with Eddie to a squaw dance 297. Mary hears of Cuban suppression as she travels to Cuba 298. Mary observes and confronts to investigate free speech in Cuba 299. Steward and Joan talk about stars in a moonlit field 300. Steward gets a lesson in self-reliance at Thomasek’s “spread” 301. Steward spends the night alone in a tent with Joan 302. Mary accepts Cortez’s invitation to spend a day together talking 303. Mary becomes disenchanted with Cortez and Cuba’s cultural blandness 304. At Georgetown meeting, Mary finds Hattie suspects her Cuban ties 305. Mary and Gail resolve to remain “sisters” despite sharing Matt 306. Jim and Ellen fly home to Minnesota for Jane’s funeral 307. Morris reels from the Pentagon Papers and Ellen’s accusations 308. Stumphand tells Matthew: “Sometimes it just takes a strong hand” 309. Shut out, Matthew listens as Dennis describes “the ultimate development” 310. Matt barges into the house and destroys the sound equipment 311. With Ellen left behind, Morris visits Steward, not knowing why 312. At Scott’s Bluff, Morris struggles to regain the old ideal 313. Morris returns to the family house for the last time 314. Mary flies home to console Ellen as Ellen blames herself 315. Farm group meets to discuss paying off people who left 316. Darren and then Dennis announce their plans and depart 317. Steward leaves Gallup with his backpack to “look for America” 318. Steward senses a dimension of history on his “unfolding path” 319. In Sunland, Steward finds Kristine troubled and sick but determined 320. Steward decides that America is found in a vast mosaic 321. Back in Minnesota, Steward reconnects with his family and heritage 322. Steward hitches to the farm looking for a synthesis of ideas 323. Steward and Brandt get along working but talking is strained 324. Steward learns of the farm’s conflicted past and departed members 325. Steward cleans a chicken barn, gets chickens for the farm 326. Steward, unaware of financial make-up of farm, considers staying longer 327. Jane Larue offers Steward a bridge to the “primordial mind” 328. Brandt informs Steward remaining on the farm requires buying in 329. Steward realizes he found discord, not the synthesis he sought 330. Steward decides to leave and heads out with intense farewells 331. Steward hitches to Minnesota thinking the whole era is over PART IV: BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Most important references for this novel in order of importance 2. Per chapter comments regarding sources and factuality 3. List of quoted or directly referenced sources 4. List of consulted sources 5. List of websites