Few Americans living today have experienced and survived the ravages of the Great Depression, World War II, and all the 'isms" in between: anti-Semitism, fascism, McCarthyism. Bill Blau, who found his secure middle class life abruptly coming to an end at age 12 during the Great Depression in 1937, did. He then faced life without a father, and was sent to an orphan home, far from his roots in Gary, Indiana. This is a chronicle of a young boy's struggle to make sense of his world and deal with the challenges of those chaotic times. Circumstances taught him that the unexamined life was not worth living. Following his Air Corps service in WW II he pursued a variety of educational, political, and work experiences. His politics, his loves, losses, and learning processes are all part of this story. What led him from the orphan home to a University of Chicago graduate degree; and to pursue classic great books at an early age? From the giant Carnegie-Illinois steel mills of Gary to the boardrooms of America's prestigious corporations, and the United Nations as a marketing consultant, Bill has experienced a life of diverse experience, whilst never forgetting whence he came.