The Thirteen

Book One in the Mempner Hext Series

The Thirteen Provides SolutionsThis is the first installment of  a  story  tackling  real problems in the United States via a program calledAnother  Way.  Another  Way  relies  on  an educational  system  derived  from  hands-on  communitybased  learning  and  the Internet.  Twenty-four   hour  community  centers  replace isolated high schoolbuildings.  The  program  engages  the  currently  overlooked  abilities  and  goodwill  of   the  youngestand oldest  generations  in  neighborhoods.The original thirteen characters met in 1996; eleven high school students were brought together  by  twosocial  studies  teachers. The  series  cover their  lives  between 1996  and  2050.Action involves political campaigns, division of  California into three states;  trial and abandonment of  a  utopian  government after secession by  several states; acceptance back into the Union [50 states again]and  a  constitutional convention.  The  final book puts  an  emphasis  on  global  and metaphysical  issues.  Obstacles,  including  skepticism  and  the  normal  fear  bred  by  a  new  idea,  are  encountered  all through the book and not always overcome.Click to download free review copy The series defines and promotes  freedom using  three premises: (1) people  are basically  good and are capable of exercising personal responsibility; (2) free markets and minimal interference by government leads to prosperity and (3) results are better when people act of their own free will rather than by decree. Antagonists disagree.The author, Margaret Bohannon-Kaplan has been Director of the Harry Singer Foundation since 1987. One of the goals of this operating foundation has been to promote responsibility and involve citizens more fully in their communities and in government. She has given public policy her full attention (pro bono publico) for twenty-seven years.Under the pseudonym, Helen P. Rogers, she has written a number of non-fiction public policy books including Social Security: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed in 1986 and The Deficit: Fulfillment of a Prophecy? All nineteen can be seen on the Helen P. Rogers Author Page on Amazon.com.Her biography has been published in seven different Marquis Who’s Who categories over the years including Who’s Who In America and Who’s Who In The World.