Book Blurb:
Baby Boomers growing up in the 1960s had many landmines to navigate, grooming them for a whole new set of obstacles in the 70s. Suddenly, in 1971, Fort Wayne, Indiana was under a microscope after the school board elected to bus inner-city students to the suburbs for the first time, turning this midwestern city into a proving ground for desegregation in America.
Descendants of slavery, the Jackson family moved from New Orleans to Fort Wayne to escape segregation and seek a better life for their son, Antonio, a trumpet-playing prodigy. Thrust into a hornet's nest, Antonio was forced to adapt quickly, leveraging his charisma and star power as a musician to become a role model for diversity. Meanwhile, Antonio's father was cast into a different hornet's nest. Employed as a service attendant at the Cadillac dealership, Marquis Jackson worked for Ryan O'Connor, a man who had generated a great deal of wealth in the auto industry.
But the 1970s represented a dramatic change in the economic landscape. After an Arab oil embargo, the price of gasoline suddenly tripled, threatening to end the era of gas-guzzling cars produced in Detroit and opening the door for Japanese competition. Making matters worse, the Teamsters were attempting to unionize O'Connor's workforce, staging an unlikely showdown between the O'Connors and Jacksons, complicated further by the friendship forged between Antonio and his classmate, Quinn O'Connor.
While the teenagers successfully navigate their way through the pitfalls of desegregation, they cannot escape the hypocrisy of their parents and the way their lives become entangled. As the Teamsters converge and the auto industry falls deeper into crisis mode, tensions reach a dramatic climax when a high-profile murder serves up a long list of suspects.
A nostalgic time capsule of the early 1970s, this coming-of-age story captures the way baby boomers were tackling diversity and contesting the traditional roles of their elders. A novel about the privileged and their age-old struggle to maintain power, it retraces influential moments from the 70s and how the status quo was under siege.
Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/LFPqKKt
Author Bio:
Kevin Geise was born and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He attended Jefferson Junior High and Northrop High School when the school board implemented their busing plan to achieve racial integration. After a thirty-year career in corporate finance, he has written a novel that captures the essence of those events and other consequential moments from the 70s. His composition of historical fiction masterfully delves into the social and political implications of an emerging society trying to reinvent itself.
As a proponent of an independent and free press, Kevin Geise supports investigative journalism and literary works that retrace important moments in history, enlightening its readers with thought-provoking awareness. Since 1995, he has resided near Dallas, Texas.
Follow and connect with the author on Facebook at: Kevin Geise - Author
Editorial Review:
““What’s your mother doing?” asked Nancy.
“Right now, she’s baking a cake and watching one of her soap operas.”
“Which one?”
“I don’t know,” frowned Lynda. “She usually watches All My Children or Days of Our Lives. I couldn’t care less. It’s all boring to me. Just a bunch of old people with lots of problems.””
It’s the 1960s/1970s in the United States of America. And Lynda, even in the not-yet-old environment of almost-ninth grade, is correct. A bunch of “old people” do have lots of problems, unfortunately not confined to the realms of soap operas. Civil rights, the economy, the sexual revolution, assassinations, and general social upheaval appear to be tearing the fabric of the United States apart.
It’s all an evocative background for a story, and “No Boundaries” by Kevin Geise will make you long for a return to those times. Really. Nostalgia is like that, isn’t it, and this skilfully written novel makes good use of that emotion, a perfect juxtaposition between the hazy bad bits and the golden memories that most of us prefer to recall. And then of course there was Vietnam, and Nixon, but perhaps we should move on quickly, and return to those golden memories.
But reality is there too, turning up like a bad penny, the prejudice and the privilege and the “m” word (“money”) and all those inconvenient things that are old peoples’ problems until, well, they trickle down to affect children too. Children like Antonio and Quinn, like the rest of the neighborhood gang of teens, who want to be friends, who are friends, but then sometimes reality gets in the way, and my Dad has told me, and Mom says…and then it all gets a bit complicated. All of us, as children, who navigated any sort of childhood friendship while trying to follow (or ignore) our parents’ example will relate.
The dialogue in “No Boundaries” is superb. Lynda’s sage assessment of adult life is accompanied by chapters relating to a range of other neighborhood families in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and each conversation and comment instantly puts the reader in the center of the scene, demonstrating the personality of each character. The conversation by and between the various teens will make many think back with affection (golden memories, remember?) while the adult discussions add a gritty realism. The shadow of Vietnam remains a long one, looming over the wholesomeness of Moms baking cakes and Dads fretting over the length of lawns.
“As the Vietnam War raged on, tearing the country to pieces, another war was being waged at home: the ongoing battle for racial equality. One hundred years after the Civil War and the end of slavery, there was still a large disparity between the rights of Black people and those of their former slave owners. Despite the pervasive myth that racial persecution had ended, the ugly truth began to unravel in the 60s, exposing the South’s continuous efforts to preserve White privilege. Although the former Confederate states promoted equality under the facade of “separate but equal,” it was clear that segregation and equality were anything but synonymous. While Whites enjoyed the privilege of public parks, libraries, and theaters, admittance for Blacks was often denied with signs that read, No Colored People. Public transportation, restrooms, and drinking fountains were almost always segregated by race, available to Blacks on a restricted basis only. If restaurants didn’t refuse service altogether, they would make Black people sit in a separate section. Even then, they were encouraged to enter and leave through a back doorway and order from an inferior menu.”
The novel’s storyline is a great read, with layers of meaning. The continuity of “No Boundaries” is hampered though by the structure of the book, where some chapters focus solely on historical fact and detail, rather than the plot itself. This talks the reader firmly out of the story, and is perhaps too much historical detail, some of which is repetitive and is clear from the storyline itself. When those who grew up in these times (reviewer’s note: even you, Lynda, would now be one of those “old people”) would surely enjoy “No Boundaries” the most, the extensive historical detail will be taken as read (we LIVED this stuff!). Tighter editing may allow this fascinating story – and wonderful dialogue – to shine even brighter.
“It was New Year’s Eve at the Fort Wayne Country Club, and the ballroom was packed. Roselyn O’Connor was wearing a full-length sheath gown in classic black, embellished with silver embroidery. Hugging her curves and exposing her bare back, the dress showed off her glamour and elegance. She hadn’t missed a single NYE Ball in twenty years, and she wasn’t about to break her streak. As the band broke into “A String of Pearls,” the dance floor filled up with festive couples eager to celebrate. Standing in the back, Roselyn sipped on her flute of champagne and socialized with her lady friends, enjoying a welcome escape from the rigors of domesticity. Her husband had disappeared, making his way to the bar, a separate room fashioned in the style of an old English pub. That is where the men hung out, shooting pool, sipping whiskey, and puffing on cigars.”
“No Boundaries: When Two Worlds Collide” by Kevin Geise will carry the reader on a wave of nostalgia back to the ‘60s and ‘70s, those harmless/harmful (delete one, your choice) days when people worried about lawns, Vietnam, and everything in between. But also, as this intriguing novel makes clear, a time where childhood (at least on the surface) was innocent and endless, even if the old people had a lot of problems.
*****
“No Boundaries: When Two Worlds Collide” by Kevin Geise receives 4 stars from The Historical Fiction Company
To have your historical novel editorially reviewed and/or enter the HFC Book of the Year contest, please visit www.thehistoricalfictioncompany.com/book-awards/award-submission
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