This section is reproduced from the Preface.
As previously indicated, this is not merely a story of yet-untold banking abuses motivated by unbridled greed. It is not just a saga recounting unimaginable assaults on “the American way of life” and their resultant carnage. And it is not only a quest for justice. It is much more than that.
“What more?”, you may ask.
There are additional elements comprising this story, saga and quest. First of all, the amount of content is substantial, which is one of the reasons why this literary endeavor was split up into a trilogy, and even then, in physical book form, the sheer girth of each volume may appear intimidating. And in electronic form, irrespective of the font size available, there will no doubt appear to be a daunting number of pages. This is because there are roughly 350,000 words comprising each volume, and thus there are about a million words making up this Trilogy.
Now let’s put these one million or so words in the Cannibals in White Shoes trilogy in perspective.
We’ll begin by covering some bestsellers you may have read, and which I have personally enjoyed. For instance, Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace has about 560,000 words, E. L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy has roughly 450,000 words, and the books in J. K. Rowling’s seven-book Harry Potter series average about 160,000 words each, and thus translate to 1.1 million words in aggregate.
Ayn Rand’s two epic novels promoting her philosophy on objectivism, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, are collectively 1,000,000 words. And on the nonfiction front, The House of Morgan by Ron Chernow is 350,000 words, while John Adams by David McCullough is about 325,000 words.
Now while I have read some Stephen King novels, it is likely I will not read all of them. This is because his novels average about 170,000 words and as of this writing he’s written 54 of them – that’s more than 9 million words! Some of his lengthier ones are: The Stand (472,000 words), IT (444,000 words) and Under the Dome (334,000 words).
Now considering the average reading speed for adults is 300 words per minute, and assuming one hour per day is allocated to reading, that means it would take a month to read War and Peace, and 3 ½ weeks to read the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. It would take roughly two months to read the Ayn Rand novels and the same time commitment would apply to the Harry Potter series. The House of Morgan and John Adams can each be read in less than 3 weeks, and to read every Stephen King novel, about a year and a half.
But the one million words in the Cannibals in White Shoes trilogy still requires a substantial commitment, doesn’t it?
Au contraire mon ami. The second additional element in this StorySagaQuestMore is that most of its content is supplemental or otherwise corroborating information contained in a relatively voluminous set of appendices – in other words, there is a separate appendix supporting each chapter. This means the “real meat” of this book resides in the front sections and twenty or so chapters of each volume, representing a very manageable 125,000 words. That’s less than HALF the number of words in Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix and roughly ONE-THIRD of those contained in the referenced nonfiction books.
What does that really mean?
It means if you read any book in the Cannibals in White Shoes trilogy for an hour a day, and started on a Monday, you’ll be done by Sunday.
Nevertheless, you may find the information contained in the appendices of keen interest, and you may therefore choose to invest more of your time, but for a comprehensive understanding of this Trilogy, you need only read the front sections (i.e., Preface, Acknowledgements and Introduction) and chapters that comprise each of the books.
There is third additional element of this StorySagaQuestMore that may pique your interest. It resides in the appendices, and is comprised of relevant accompanying multimedia. You will note there are numerous embedded or otherwise referenced videos in the Appendices (principally YouTube) that are as entertaining as they are informative. With but a few exceptions, they are short in duration, and are of a decidedly diverse mix. For example, there are movie clips, music videos, news clips, comedy skits, documentary segments, sports highlights, instructional summaries, significant speeches, a symphonic performance, and even an animated cartoon.
Each Appendix for the chapters and front sections of the book (except the Foreword) have at least two and as many as nine videos to supplement and enhance the reading experience – in aggregate, there are 101 videos.
Is that all?
Of course not. The fourth additional element is contained in “the meat” with frequent references to and analogies with classic literary works and important historical events. And while the recounted events are generally well-known, the details pertaining to those events will be shocking to many.
Now you may be thinking that’s already an impressive supplementary set of attributes, but I’ve saved the best for last.
The fifth additional element in this StorySagaQuestMore pertains to the underlying intent of this Trilogy – namely to spur YOU to action, which may take one of two forms:
- Common Victimization– If you, or someone you know has been victimized in a similar manner (e.g., bank foreclosure fraud, judicial corruption, police brutality) as described in this Trilogy (and believe me, there is much to choose from), I would like to hear from YOU. Simply click on the “Contact Us” tab at the top; and/or
- Problem Resolution– There are also many opportunities whereby YOU can play a role in resolving some of the injustices described herein, and be rewarded (perhaps handsomely so, since there is a great deal of money involved) with little effort required on your part. Visit the above referenced website and click on the tab labeled “Toward a Solution” for more information.
Closing Thoughts
If I am successful, this “StorySagaQuestMore” will inaugurate an innovative, entertaining and action-based genre for literary works of an exposé ilk. One that is predicated on not merely exposing wrongdoing, but inciting meaningful unified action by disenfranchised others who have been subjected to similar injustices and have heretofore been thwarted by rigged systems designed to protect the interests of an undeserving few at the expense of an oppressed many. In light of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election results, I submit this is potentially a VERY large and significant demographic.
Cannibals In White Shoes 