Dad the Man Who Lied to Save the Planet

"For anyone who admits to having forgotten the important things of life, James Michael Pratt and DAD, The Man Who Lied to Save the Planet are here to remind you." —Kenneth J. Atchity, Bestselling Author and President, AEI.

In this loving tribute to his father, New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author, James Michael Pratt evokes a simpler time in American history—the years following the Great Depression and World War Two, when Southern California was still filled with dusty little towns and when a man could have purchased bean fields that have become LA International Airport fir $5 dollars an acre, except few had five dollars to spare.

A veteran of World War Two and a member of the generation Tom Brokaw called “the greatest generation,” skinny Grant Pratt lied about his weight to enlist in the Army at the outbreak of war in 1941. An unpretentious man who acquired little of the world’s wealth, what he did possess in rich abundance was a wit and wisdom built upon old-fashioned values, and which he somehow succeeded in passing along to his family of ten children—values readers today will no doubt find refreshing.

The themes in DAD, the Man Who Lied to Save the Planet are designed for fathers and their children to ponder and appreciate. James Michael Pratt pulls at the heart-strings until the end as he relates the miracle expression of three sacred words given to a father for a final gift to a son. Through the heart-warming stories and nostalgic reflections, James Pratt reminds us that twelve timeless virtues are in an increasing short supply in today’s world. In doing so, he reaffirms for today’s father the unique power a he has to shape and mold his children’s character and touch lives even after his own life ends.

Designed as a "gift book" for Father's Day, the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author provides insights that can make a difference in anyone who reads and then applies the twelve values.

Before DAD and After: Reflections by the Author

This book title, Dad the Man Who Lied to Save the Planet, came to me out of the process of pondering upon concepts for my fourth novel Paradise Bay. I was seeking insights, probing mentally about what I wanted for the novel's father and son relationship, in harmony with notes I had received from my New York editor, the talented Jennifer Enderlin. The title struck suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere and with such force, I had to chuckle.

"No," I replied to the writer's muse from that ethereal zone, the invisible instructor who sometimes interrupts my fiction making meditations. "No, you can't side-track me from what I am doing," I thought back. "Get up and write it down," the sometimes challenging inner voice charged in return.

I fought the notion to get out of my easy chair where I sat with pen and paper in hand, and go to my computer to type this title into a folder I keep for possible future work. The voice just got stronger and more insistent, and as was the case with my first published novel, The Last Valentine, I knew I had to get up, write the basics of the idea down or I would never get any rest. Four hours later I had an outline for Dad the Man Who Lied to Save the Planet, and two years later you are reading this.

I wondered as I wrote how and why simple stories from a very ordinary father and son relationship could ever be compelling reading. I knew I had to get it out on paper, but "...for whom and why?" I continued to mentally pose the question as I wrote. Some background may be helpful before you launch into the first chapter, and certainly helps me answer those questions to my satisfaction.

My father was a poor man from the day he was born until the day he died, at least as the way the world looks at wealth and things. He grew up in a generation much venerated now as it slips from us daily. Their parents were born n the 1800's. Their grandparent's were born before the steam locomotive and telegraph.

My folks and their peers were given a chance to hold hands with the old generations of America and yet live most of the twentieth century witnessing the development of technologies that boggle the mind when considering where the world was a mere ten decades before. My parent's generation was literally linked to a Victorian age, a bygone era uniquely qualified to pass along fundamental American values to our time.

But they were ordinary. None of them would think they had done or lived extraordinary lives. Almost cookie-cutter in every way, with their simple neighbors and friends who knew the hardness of a world-wide economic disaster so encompassing that history books still refer to it as the "Great Depression," they thought of themselves as anything but remarkable. From their modest way of life, from the age of frontier wisdom that my grandparent's knew, from the simple slowness of life that they began their journeys on, comes discernment meant for our day of frenetic schedules, and communications at the speed of light. What yesterday may have seemed as ordinary to them, becomes extraordinary to us as we stop, take a deep breath, and go back to a simpler way of looking at life and the world.

I do not suppose that my father, mother, or their generation were the last with moral fiber. I do not suppose that, what Tom Brokaw called "the greatest generation," was the only one to live the simple truths I will pass along to you in this book. Nor do I suppose that parents of my generation, the "baby boomers," or our children who now are becoming parents, do not possess equivalent values, insights, or moral strengths.

But the greatest generation was the last generation holding hands with the age before light, sound, speed of travel, and ease of life became available to every American household. They were taught things in a quintessential American way that mirrors values of the founding families, the great immigrants with a dream, the religious seeking freedom, those who came to the eastern shores and moved west to build this land of ours.

A common wisdom pervaded the culture of the early 20th century that I hope you the reader will recall, enjoy, and find refreshing. I may seem to eulogize my father and his peers, but that is simply a way to draw conclusions from their lifestyle and thought process as we speed along in a more hectic way of life.

What you are about to read comes from the life of my hero father, a simple everyday blue-collar working man, who was never important to the world at large, whose hands moved dirt for a living for most of his adult life; a uncomplicated man who would be embarrassed by all the fuss I am making over him.

To some, the 12 values and virtues I share in Dad the Man Who Lied to Save the Planet, as handed down to me, may seem new. There are those who may not have had the advantages of a father in the home, a stable family life, a solid love between parents as I experienced. My uncomplicated father would be uneasy by all this, but he also would have put his arms around those needing a Dad, listened, and then shared a pearl or two of common experience from his times in hopes of helping them along somehow on life's tenuous journey. To those I would especially like to share my DAD...The Man Who Lied To Save The Planet.

Post Script 2008: If ever Dad’s values of life, love, and the brotherhood of man was in need of retelling, it is now. Since Dad passed away the world has almost entirely lost his great generation. The last three words he uttered to me are those in short supply and sorely needed in our world of frenetic schedules and life lived at light-speed. Dad has a few more things to share, especially now that he recently came back home to get Mom!

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