‘Schlepping Through the American West’ launches

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO – I have been a journalist, believe it or not, for over a half century, having received my start as a cub reporter in 1962 on the UCLA Daily Bruin, working for the Associated Press for five years after graduation, and then serving for another eight years as the politics writer of the San Diego Union.  Thereafter, I became an editor, and later co-publisher, of the San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage, and after that paper folded (as, alas, so many do), I started this daily online publication.

At least since 1986, I have been writing Jewish stories, not only about events, people and places in San Diego County, but also about places I have visited throughout the United States and around the world.

After I published my series this summer about a road trip I made with my grandson Shor up the Interstate 15 to Canada and back, I realized that putting all those stories in one place—along with other articles written previously—would provide for readers a Jewish view of the western United States. Thus a new book was born!

Titled Schlepping Through The American West: There’s A Jewish Story Everywhere, it may be purchased by Kindle readers via Amazon by clicking on the icon above. My daughter, Sandi Masori, is the Internet Marketing guru of the family, and she recommended that for one week beginning on Sunday, Sept. 28, we set the price for our San Diego Jewish World readers at $2.99, and when that week has elapsed, on October 4^th, reset the price to the regular $7.99.

Sandi explained that if you, the SDJW readers, get behind the book and purchase it at this special “friends and family” price, it may possibly result in Amazon according the book “best-seller” status in its category.  If that happens, each one of you will have helped to launch the book, which I anticipate will be the first in a series of books with Jewish-flavored stories about interesting places and people.

Some of the other writers for San Diego Jewish World—accomplished authors each and every one of them– were kind enough to preview the book.   Here is what some of them had to say:

“Don Harrison’s travelogue reveals so many ways that Jewish threads run through the tapestry of the American West, as a people found one of its best homes, and that new stewpot homeland was enriched by one of its tastiest (Jewish) ingredients.”—David Brin, PhD, award winning science fiction writer whose novels include The Postman, Earth, Glory Season, Kiln People and Existence among many others.

“In these times of great unrest in the world, Jews are being targeted again in the Middle East and Europe. So it is with relief that I read Don Harrison’s Schlepping Through the American West: There’s A Jewish Story Everywhere to experience not only heart-warming stories and the people who lived them, but to be reminded of the amazing Jews who have made a difference in the world in all walks of life. Most of us have not known until now who these contributors were; the evidence that they have so impacted our lives makes this a must-read to counteract the newspaper stories which are currently worrying us.”—Natasha Josefowitz, Ph.D., author of twenty books including Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without: Hope and Healing after Loss

“In compiling his accessible journal of western travels with his grandson Shor, Don Harrison reveals again his uncommon good spirits, his considerable knowledge of the hidden Jewish narratives found in the most surprising sites and locales, and his love of both life and the personal heritage he refuses to rush past.  This truly fascinating journey, driven by Don’s trademark curiosity and optimism, shared enthusiastically with the young man but as much with his readers, enshrines this longtime publisher and explorer as a San Diego icon and the quintessential Jewish-American.  We learn extensively about the previously unknown Jewish roots and connections that Don gently unearths, from nearby Qualcomm Stadium to Grape Day Park in Escondido to the Mission Inn in Riverside to the Calico Ghost Town near Barstow to Arizona’s Hoover Dam.  We see Jewish light in the Lake Shasta Caverns of Northern California.   In the end, what we discover, much to our edification, is the geography of a good man’s soul.  Don Harrison is not only the ultimate wandering Jew; he is our highly-valued wondering Jew. – Rabbi Ben Kamin, author of Room 306: The National Story of the Lorraine Motel and other books on the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.

Whenever one publishes a new book, it is an exciting time!

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com