JOURNEYS SYNOPSIS The JOURNEYS of Charles Klotsche have taken him to 52 countries on six continents over a thirty-five-year period. After a long, successful career as a real estate developer, Klotsche, the author of six books and two screenplays and an accomplished travel writer, set out to write about eleven unusual adventures that took place over three decades. His diverse, captivating chapters explore fascinating places, peoples, cultures, and events that have shaped the destiny of mankind.
JOURNEYS is a roadmap showing the great sense of purpose we as Americans have. It is a series of reflections that seek to define our heritage, primarily by placing ourselves in relation to other richer, more ancient cultures. Klotsche takes an in-depth look at the human condition, and the nature and purpose of those who live on the earth. His book also reflects the complicated journey of a man trying to find his rightful place on the planet, a man who finally comes home.
The eleven adventures, some personal, some more cultural, comment on twentieth-century society. They describe crossing over the Berlin Wall (1962); the Mardi Gras Carnival in Rio de Janeiro (1964); the physical and spiritual exertions involved in ascending to the base camp of Mount Everest (1984); the two-million animal migration in the Serengeti Game Preserve in Kenya (1986); the ancient sapphire mines of Sir Lanka (1985); the Americas Cup races in Australia (1986); the eye-opening experiences of constructing Frank Lloyd Wrights only adobe home in Sant Fe (1983-85); living aboard Howard Hughes sixty-foot, 1927 classic motor yacht in Sausalito ( 1993-96); the Cuban people trapped under the Castro regime (1995); the experience of working in Mother Teresas San Francisco home for dying AIDS patients (1996); and fishing in Alaskas Kenai Peninsula as the salmon make the run to the spawning grounds (1997).
These forays into distant lands and uncharted waters involved invigorating people and unusual events. An Introductory Chapter, Seductive Lady, looks at the motivation behind Klotsches travel adventures, and what it is like to walk away from a string of successes in the corporate world. The book then divides into six sections. The first sections two chapters explore the concept that human dignity is not always a top priority. In Brazil and Africa, Klotsche witnesses how the privileged operate through legalized inequity, and observes how human fantasies and animal hierarchies reflect the state of the world. Section two examines an enshrined institution, The Americas Cup, whose traditions have largely been eroded.
The next section explores two ancient cultures in Nepal and Sri Lanka and shows how age-old traditions hold important lessons for we who are products of a consumer society. Section four consists of pivotal chapter, Footsteps, in which Klotsche embarks on a new journey. At age 48, he leaves behind the many restrictions that are the price one pays for a successful career. In the process, he takes a hard look at the philosophical issue of quality versus quantity.
The fifth section talks about our nations ability to tolerate disobedience, which is where we started with the war of Independence, and contrasts it with totalitarianism. In Cuba, and formerly in Berlin, repression and the lack of opportunity for upward mobility go hand in hand. In Dignity, Klotsche talks about another type of deprivation, the cruelties and misfortune of those who occupy Mother Teresas home for the terminally ill and AIDS in San Francisco.
The last section delves into how we sometimes take our heritage for granted, and what we should be passing on to the next generation. In Reds, we explore the powerful journey that the Sockeye salmon make in Alaska to the spawning grounds and the insensitive, out of-sync older generations of anglers who participate. The Epilogue, Lands End, reflects on the aging process and on the price one pays for moving from a life of conformity to one of imagination and freedom; Klotsche, no longer tied to the constraints of society, now sets his won rules.
These fresh, enticing adventures reflect an individual enthralled by the idea of newness. A privileged man, Klotsche was born in a time when America was full of promise, when everything was possible. Through the vehicle of travel, he transforms his world, while searching for his countrys heritage and for a more strongly defined sense of self.
