Joint '72: ...a novel about coming of age-twice

by Michael Clark

Overview

Dub Wiggins faces a dilemma: The military boarding school where he studied for four years, and has taught for more than twenty, wants him gone. Seeking revenge, he writes a memoir of the physical, mental, and sexual predation he suffered as a student, when brutality and betrayal derailed his first coming of age. But in his quest to bury the school in scandal, he finds a chance for redemption: He can either honor a solemn debt of friendship, or bring a murderer to justice.

He cannot do both, yet his second coming of age - his chance to do it right this time - hangs in the balance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781732669338
Publisher:	DeCon Arts LLC
Publication date:	05/12/2023
Pages:	348
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.78(d)

About the Author

Michael Clark has been a military school cadet, a musician, a motorcycle journalist, a janitor, and a Human Resources executive (which is akin to janitorial work, but more lucrative). Today, he is a creative artist in multiple genres.

Table of Contents

Prologue • ix

1 ~ It’s a Big Hill • 1

2 ~ The Shepherd in the Pasture • 18

3 ~ The Plan • 28

4 ~ The Plot Thickens • 41

5 ~ Louella Delany • 54

6 ~ Journal: Freshmen, Part One • 66

7 ~ Family for Dinner • 82

8 ~ Journal: Freshmen, Part Two • 91

9 ~ A Meeting and a Proposal • 112

10 ~ Journal: Freshmen, Part Three • 127

11 ~ The Winter of Our Content • 146

12 ~ Journal: Sophomores, Part One • 160

13 ~ Debating Sex and War • 179

14 ~ Journal: Sophomores, Part Two • 202

15 ~ The Ides of March • 214

16 ~ Journal: Sophomores, Part Three • 231

17 ~ Goose and Gander • 241

18 ~ Journal: Sophomores, Part Four • 250

19 ~ The Reckoning • 269

20 ~ Journal: Juniors • 286

21 ~ Finally, I Get to Go Home • 303

Acknowledgments • 323

About the Author • 325

Editorial Reviews

Joint ’72 is a vividly painted portrait of military school life in the Vietnam Era, exposing personal and cultural guilt, rebellion, and sexuality. Cadets challenge the institution’s traditions, but despite their calamitous acts against the school and each other, a sense of humanity eventually tempers the tension that vibrates throughout the story. In the end, a crime-and-punishment climax reveals surprising resolution, growth and hope.

— SARIE MACKAY, AUTHOR OF LODESTAR AND FAIR GAME

From the Publisher