A Sense of Community with Neal Powers, author of Letters to Millie Monday, September 13, 2010

Neal Powers earned critical acclaim for his first novel, Millie's Honor. He writes with a keen eye and a wry sense of humor. A retired FAA aviation safety inspector and pilot, motorcyclist, artist, and musician, his recent Op-Ed columns about PTSD and returning combat veterans have appeared in newspapers across the US, including the Washington Times. In 2003, at Neal Powers’ 40th high school reunion, he and his classmates waxed nostalgic about growing up in a much safer era. Afterwards, though, he realized that something about that didn’t ring true to him. He and his classmates lived under constant threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The CIA was meddling with governments around the world. His generation endured the Vietnam War and the violence that accompanied the civil rights movement. Retelling this history from the inside out became the impetus behind Powers’ first book, Millie’s Honor, and its sequel, Letters to Millie. His new book chronicles the struggles a complex cast of characters from the town of Raleigh, modeled after his hometown of Fulton, Missouri, as they navigate the challenges of their time. The show will focus on the historical events that most shaped Neal’s generation, Why friends, family, and a sense of community are more essential in coping with life’s difficulties more than ever and lessons this generation can learn from the triumphs and mistakes of the previous.