[amazon_link id="0983066108" target="_blank" ]Altamont Augie[/amazon_link]
by Richard Barager
Publication Date: June 1, 2011
Publisher: Interloper Press
Read an excerpt of the book!
Reading Group Guide
About the Book
After being assigned to cut a trailer for the 30th anniversary re-release of the 1969 rock documentary Gimme Shelter, Los Angeles trailer editor CALEB LEVY becomes obsessed with an obscure fatality that occurred at Altamont, the notorious concert profiled in the film. His quest to identify a John Doe who drowned in an irrigation canal an hour into the concert leads to a stunning discovery: Caleb’s own mother was at Altamont, and knew the man in question. When confronted, she tells a story that forever changes Caleb’s life.
It is the story of DAVID NOBLE and JACKIE LUNDQUIST, college lovers who clash when he joins the marines to fight a war she opposes. Her pride wounded by his rush to war, Jackie ignores David’s letters from Vietnam, where he survives the blood-red clay of Khe Sahn before returning home to find Jackie a prominent campus radical. To her, the faltering war in Vietnam is a failure of national conscience; to David it is a failure of national honor. But neither Jackie’s rise to fame as the alluring Radical Queen nor David’s counter-protest activities in support of the war can extinguish their passion for one another. Their love endures, even while fighting on opposite sides of the defining issue of their time, the New Left and New Right battling for a generation’s political soul—a battle that rages still. Both their tumultuous affair and the Age of Aquarius itself cartwheel into the decade’s last great rock festival: Altamont, the metaphoric Death of the Sixties, where shame is ascendant and honor will wait thirty years for its due.
About the Author
Richard R. Barager, MD, FACP, is a nephrologist in private practice in San Diego’s North County. Dr. Barager, who has twice received a San Diego County Medical Society “Top Doctor” award for distinguished care in his specialty, is a champion of the healing power of literature, and from time to time “prescribes” specific novels to receptive patients and families to help them cope with their burden of illness.
He has engaged the medical community at large in this endeavor via The Literary Doctor, a blog category devoted to the use of literary fiction to help patients and physicians alike explore the meaning of human illness in a way scientific method cannot. A disease can be understood through the process of empiric research and publication; understanding illness—the fully expressed human response to disease, manifested by its emotional, spiritual, financial, as well as physical aspects—requires a different paradigm. Illness is best understood in story form, i.e. selected works of literary fiction.
Dr. Barager has long believed the two finest callings in life are doctor and writer, the one ministering to the human condition, the other illuminating it, both—when performed with compassion and knowledge—capable of transforming it. His novel Altamont Augie, a tale of the late 1960s, is due for publication in June, 2011.
Dr. Barager earned BA and MD degrees at the University of Minnesota, and did postgraduate training at Emory University in Atlanta and the University of California at San Diego. He has published a chapter in a medical textbook, is past chief of staff at a large district hospital, and is fluent in Spanish, in order to better serve his area’s substantial Hispanic population.
Find Dr. Barager on Facebook!
Giveaway
I have 5 copies of this book to give away to lucky readers in the USA or Canada!
Starts: July 29, 2011 9:00am EST
Ends: August 6, 2011 12:01am EST
Click on READ MORE to enter the giveaway!
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thanks for the chance to win! I retweeted about this contest
Great review and author info and I truly enjoyed the Chapter 11 excerpt. I’d be honored to read Altamont Augie. From what has been shared, there’s no doubt I shall not be disappointed by the telling of the story of a time many remember all too clearly.
ruthcox at abitosunshine dot net
The sixties and the Vietnam war were such a different time. I remember it so well. I was more into the anti war group myself. I would love a little trip back in time plus the mystery involved in the present, too.
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
Important part of my youth. Would like the chance to read Altamont Augie. Best wishes on success of your book.
Fascinated by your take on reading as healing. The Wellness House where I go is starting a book club come Fall. Compiling a list of books with cancer plot/subplot. Started w/ novels with mention until I realized how pervasive that theme has become.
Thanks for the giveaway! Sounds like an interesting book
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I distinctly remember Altamont, esp. since it took place not far from where I live, so I am definitely interested in this title.
JHS
Colloquium
jhsmail at comcast dot net
“Illness is best understood in story form, i.e. selected works of literary fiction.” It certainly will bring a greater understanding to many. Book sounds fascinating!
It was a time when people believed passionately in their side, whichever one it was.
I want to read this book because it sounds like a very good read. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com
I love stories about the Vietnam war, how people took sides, and how radical some of them were. That’s why I would love to read this book
Opposing values, love story, mystery, and a reflection of an era I experienced, although a child at the time, captures my interest. Looks like a good read.
I grew up in the 60′s! The story about the college lovers appeals to me!
In a time of my growing up era makes reading I would enjoy
Anyone who says he loves both ministering to the human condition and illuminating it sounds like someone worth reading. I’d love to win and read this book.
I’d like to read this book because the I’d like to learn more about Altamont without it being a dry history lesson.
I was just coming of age in 1969 and love to read about what was going on in the wider world at that time. Thanks for the chance to win Altamont Augie!