American Trail

American Trail is a story of redemption and a young man's search for it. Jack Gale is a Baby Boomer, a member of that loud, narcistic generation that grew up believing the American Dream was its entitlement. "e;My generation was the first to grow up with television,"e; is how Jack begins his story. It was the 1950's, an age of innocence when TV sitcoms taught families how to be dutiful, conforming, and child-centered. On Saturday mornings kids sat on the floor watching cartoons and learned from the commercials what cereals their mothers should buy, the ones with the best toys boxed inside. "e;Hey, kids, tell your mom they were told. The stuff of Jack's boyhood is Davy Crockett caps, Daisy air rifles, and American Bandstand. But so are fallout shelters in the basement and A-bomb drills in grade school. While he is in college, Jack's charmed life takes an unexpected turn one night when he draws a low number in the national draft lottery and suddenly the threat of military service in Vietnam darkens his Dream. From there he chooses a new trail, one that passes through some of his generation's defining touchstones: anti-war rallies, Woodstock, failed idealism, and a bohemian search for fulfillment. The trail takes him to a battleground with his father where they fight over differences in ambition, values, and duty. When Jack learns of a sociologist's claim that America's general happiness peaked in 1957 and has been declining ever since, he sees it as a reflection of his own life. Ultimately, he realizes his Dream was a gift and a debt to repay, and finds redemption in the most unlikely place.