A Life Out of Whack
By Les Essif
A Life Out of Whack has two parts. The first part is autobiographical and sketches the atypical early life of a future academic scholar from family poverty to marriage and divorce at nineteen, from eight years in big-city and federal law enforcement to starting college at the ... Read more
Overview
A Life Out of Whack has two parts. The first part is autobiographical and sketches the atypical early life of a future academic scholar from family poverty to marriage and divorce at nineteen, from eight years in big-city and federal law enforcement to starting college at the age of twenty-six, culminating with a doctoral fellowship in French Studies at Brown U. The second part presents an alternative critical look at contemporary life and ethos: aging, nature, corporate capitalism, and American, French, and global cultures.
Les Essif
Following his experience as a New York City police officer and U.S. Border Patrol agent in the 1970s, Les Essif went to college, got a PhD, and became a university professor. Currently a professor emeritus of French studies at the University of Tennessee—Knoxville, he is the author of numerous articles and books on French theatre and comparative cultures (French and American).
Excerpt
In the United States you can't be too poor, because you can't be too wealthy. The French still resist an economic system that authorizes and even favors the wealth of a few through the sacrifice of many. In the United States, we're sacrificing our financial security and peace of mind to people of infinitely increasing wealth.