Inheritance of Crises and Dysfunction: Revised 2025 Edition

Inheritance of Crises and Dysfunction is a novel about the daunting challenges waiting at home and abroad for the next US Administration, the search for innovative responses and people asked to implement solutions. In addition to global and domestic political issues, the book grapples with the stubborn trauma that accompanies the loss of a spouse, the pain of moving, the mixed emotions associated with contemplating retirement, and the psychological need to remain relevant and connected as one grows older. It is designed to be thought-provoking as well as entertaining, and light enough to stir an occasional laugh or smile.

The book opens on inauguration day in 2021. Through the eyes of the protagonist, Salt Pepper, whose career included stints with the US Government and a Washington law firm, it portrays the deep disagreements and partisanship that divide our citizens from one another and their Government, and the US from the rest of the world. Salt thinks he has retired and moved to his ancestral farm near the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains in rural Virginia. Then an old acquaintance, who is about to become the Secretary of State in a new Administration, talks him into accepting a temporary clandestine diplomatic role that takes Salt and a new and able female colleague to the White House, London, Berlin, and Prague and into sensitive meetings with diplomats there and from the Middle East.

With roots in history, current events, and human nature, the book provides insight into an inheritance of international disarray, toxic domestic politics, the harmful dissonance emanating from our battered small town and rural America, small business and manufacturing, as well as global clamor for US leadership. The crises and dysfunction are not imaginary; neither is the need for leader willing to grasp nettles and contribute to much-needed solutions, even when risky and inconvenient.