This book has its origins in a shoebox full of family names and scribbled notes that George M. Pikler has kept since childhood when he developed a life-long fascination with the history of his family. George belongs to the sixth out of eight known generations of the David branch of the Pikler family; he was born and raised in Quito, Ecuador after his parents and sister emigrated there from Czechoslovakia to escape the Nazis. George began working on The Piklers: A Family Odyssey on Three Continents eight years ago, after he inherited an extensive trove of letters, postcards, documents, and photos from his father. Combining these with his many years of research, he has assembled a history of the Pikler family, and an in-depth account of the lives of the fifth generation-George's father and four aunts-including their harrowing experiences in the concentration camps and the stories of ingenuity, courage, and unbreakable family bonds that made their survival possible. George is now retired from the oncology/hematology private practice he had in Tulsa, OK for 27 years, and lives in Baltimore, MD with his wife, Elaine. They have a son, a daughter, and three grandsons, adding two more generations to the enduring Pikler family tree.