If you’re looking for a new summer read, look no further.

Check out the latest book from Chris Manno, Ph.D., adjunct instructor of language and literature at Texas Wesleyan, East Jesus.

View East Jesus on Amazon.com

Book summary:

In the summer of 1969, a small town in west Texas prepares to send one of their finest young men off to fight a faraway, controversial war. A parallel battle of domestic violence erupts at home as a younger generation struggles to reconcile older notions of right and wrong and even fractured family ties with the inevitable price that the fighting demands.

Much like today's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Vietnam war is little understood by those left behind, but the lessons of strength, commitment and duty are timeless, then and now. East Jesus, the story of that national struggle today as well as back in 1969, is a plangent, soulful journey lived through the eyes of a wide-ranging, colorful array of characters, with a conclusion that readers will never forget.

The novel is peopled by strong characters, particularly women, in a salt-of-the-earth, small town, west Texas community. The price of a far away, unpopular war always comes due in small town America, then (set in 1969) as well as now (Iraq and Afghanistan). But the lesson of hope, sacrifice and redemption is timeless.

To read East Jesus is to live that story, to transcend the fighting at home and abroad, and to embrace the hope and faith in what's right above all else.

Experience East Jesus, live the story--you'll never forget it.

Publisher: White Bird Publications, Austin, TX

About the author:

Chris Manno earned his doctorate in English at Texas Christian University and teaches writing at Texas Wesleyan University.  He is a full time 737 captain at American Airlines and lives in Fort Worth, Texas.