The Confessions Of An American Hero

About the Book

The Confessions of an American Hero spans the second half of the twentieth century. Raymond Dow, the protagonist, joins the US Navy in the waning days of World War II, and inadvertently, and totally out of character, performs an act of heroism that earns him accolades from a grateful nation. He aims to parley the incident into "the good life."

Upon his discharge from the service Ray eases his way through college, and then on the strength of his war record he is offered a position with the US government - specifically with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Our hero is a man devoid of conscience or social values, and so he easily becomes involved with some of the darker aspects of American life in the latter years of the century. Ray is an eager participant in the McCarthy red-hunt. He is a witness to the civil rights movement, and becomes involved with the more nefarious aspects of American policy in Central America and Viet Nam, among other activities.

He weds a young woman whose wealth and family connections, he believes, will serve him well. That turns into disaster.

In the final analysis our "American hero," estranged from family and friends, and unaware of the sad route through life that he has chosen, doesn't even pause to wonder why his empty life has been valueless. In many respects Ray's life is a mirror of the time and place in which we live.

About the Author

Alvin Levie was born in New York City in 1927. Following his discharge from the navy in 1945 he worked as a seaman in the Army Transport Service. In 1949, with his wife, Edith, he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He worked for ten years as an open-hearth steelworker. While at the mill he studied writing at Carnegie Mellon University. He was then employed as a public relations professional in a Pittsburgh advertising agency. From Pittsburgh, Levie moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where he worked in an advertising agency. Eventually, he left public relations to work as a union organizer. In 1984 he went to Nicaragua, and in the following year wrote the non-fiction book, Nicaragua - The people Speak. He continued to work as a union and community organizer. In 2004 he wrote the novel "American Odyssey." Levie and his wife, Edith, have recently relocated to Bradenton, Florida. They have four children and ten grandchildren.