Looking for Lincoln

For young Tommy Wall from the shady little town of Mill Gate, Pennsylvania, America is baseball. Pinch hits and outs, best friends, an honest game, and the grass around the diamond make his world. But when Thomas Wall is forced to confront the reality in America around him as an adult, it is not so simple.

What is America? For young Tommy Wall in the shady little town of Mill Gate, Pennsylvania, America is baseball. Pinch hits and outs, batting averages and the grass around the diamond make his world. But when Thomas Wall the adult is forced to confront the truth of the world around him, could it be so simple? Frank Vickers, Tom's greatest childhood friend, dies from cancer, and it falls to Tom to find meaning in the prodigious volume of the international journalist's lifetime of work. From Israel to 9-11, Yeats' "The Second Coming," and the political correctness movement, what discovery is it that Vickie wanted Tom to see? What's more—what does it mean for America and the small town life Tom knows and loves? Exasperated, Tom turns to an outside source for help. But can the Penn State college interns that he hires really do their job? If they do, what is a small town man to do to solve a problem large enough to devour a nation? Tom's answers will be bought with sweat and tears, through the shadow of a center that cannot hold, and with a little unlikely help from the pastime he knows and loves.

Roland H. Wilkerson, Jr., known as Ron to his friends and “Doc” to his students, has been a lifelong student and teacher of the meanings of history. He has lived in State College, Pennsylvania with his wife Doyle since 1969, and using the world as a tool of learning they have traveled hand in hand for nearly fifty summers. He was educated at the University of Dayton and Miami University, and earned a doctorate from the Pennsylvania State University. He is currently working on a review of contemporary American culture.