Rogues in a Nation
9781967311934
305 pages
Little Creek Press
Overview
A SWEEPING, MULTI-GENERATIONAL AMERICAN STORY WHERE BURIED POLITICAL SECRETS, FAMILY HISTORIES, AND THE GHOSTS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY COLLIDE.When Valerie Lisowski, a veteran psychiatric nurse, returns home to Appleton during a turbulent political moment, she expects a quiet visit with her aging parents. Instead, an unexpected guest arrives with a revelation that shatters everything she thought she knew about her family—and her country.
Decades earlier, her father Herb came of age in the chaotic aftermath of World War II, juggling his love of film, the burdens of service, and a fateful friendship with a displaced Soviet laborer. But it was his entanglement with powerful industrialists and an ambitious Wisconsin politician that set in motion a series of consequences reaching far beyond the Midwest. As Valerie listens to the story her parents never told, a hidden past emerges—one shaped by propaganda, political machinations, Cold War paranoia, and the dangerous ease with which ordinary people can become complicit in extraordinary wrongdoing.
Moving between postwar Germany, mid-century Wisconsin, and the present-day labor protests unfolding at the Capitol, Rogues in a Nation intertwines personal memory with national history to explore how private choices echo across generations. Powerful, cinematic, and deeply human, this novel asks: What do we owe to the truth—and to each other—when the past refuses to stay buried?
Author Bio
Andrew Lifson holds a B.A. in English, specializing in American Literature, from Queens College (CUNY), and an M.S.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His academic path has international flavor: he spent time studying at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, and served as an English teacher in Kabul, Afghanistan, during his tenure with the Peace Corps—back when it was safe to do so.
As an undergraduate at Queens College, Andrew won a prestigious film criticism award for an essay analyzing the work of Alfred Hitchcock. Since then, he has built a rich career combining literary expertise and educational practice, shaped by his global experience and deep dedication to teaching.
