Israel on a Car Phone

Israel Bodkin''s journey began when he was a youngster and fled Lithuania just before the Nazis arrived. After fifty years in New York City he thinks he understands the boundaries of his life. But now his beloved wife is dead, and his family lives in Miami, a place Israel imagines as the New Babylon, a center of luxury, license, and wickedness. When his son insists he come to live with him, Israel reluctantly begins the next stage of his life''s passage. He enters a world of bi-racial, tri-ethnic chaos he never bargained for. But all things are possible in the New Babylon. Israel discovers an unlikely new career as a radio talk show host and becomes a reluctant political activist. Interaction with a sometimes manic collection of new friends affirms what he already knows-that life is about making demands and fulfilling commitments. What you can''t always predict are the consequences. Israel''s story is as old as history and as new as today''s headlines, and his adventures will move you to laughter and to tears.