Books

In this fascinating book Karl Eskelund tells about the overflowing abundance of the United States and the United States "as seen from the bottom". The journey begins in New York where Eskelund and his wife Chi-Yun experience one of technologies' newest wonders: the lie detector, designed to protect owners of chain stores and supermarkets against fraud from staff.
In Philadelphia Karl and Chi-Yun Eskelund visit an outcast couple who, after having been subjected to brainwashing in Communist Chinese prisons, seek to improve the plight of the needy in the slums.
Among other experiences, they meet Hillbillies in Appalachia who use live rattlesnakes during church services - the strengh of your faith can be measured by being able to speak from experience about its bite! They visit with Florida's Seminole Indians living on reservations in the shadow of the Cape Kennedy launch complex. From Florida, Karl and Chi-Yun head to Mississippi to get first hand accounts of the Civil Rights movement. Then on to Texas to learn about the situation of migrant farm workers. In Los Angeles, Karl and Chi-Yun visit a worship service of the Nation of Islam, attend a meeting of the John Birch Society and the Overeaters Anonymous group. Finally, an insightful look at the lives and living conditions of senior citizens in Arizona - those well off and those not so much. And more.

ROAD TRIP!! But not your garden variety road trip. Can you imagine driving from Libya to India going through, in the process, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan ? It's unlikely that Europeans would take that route in modern times. But this was 1952 and things were different. Yes, some countries, for example Israel, had to be avoided because of security concerns but Karl and Chi-Yun Eskelund took the route described and wrote this book about it. It's an engaging narrative about the thoughts and opinions of the people of the countries visited.

What? Another book about the Vietnam War? Yes, and this one has a quite different pedigree than many of the books that have been written about that conflict. Karl Eskelund wrote this book in 1965 and it was published in Danish only for a Danish audience. Not sure why it wasn't translated into English and published in the United States. Maybe because he interviewed a wide range of people, including Viet Cong, and the opinions expressed were hardly supportive of the war. Karl visited the troops in the field and accompanied them into combat situations to see what it was like on the front lines. As one might expect, it wasn't pretty.

India is a richly diverse country in so many respects that writing a book about it can easily become either a deep dive into one of the many subjects that would warrant a thick tome in itself or, if you want to paint a picture with broad brushstrokes and lightly touch on the fascinating pallete of topics you could write about the politics, religion, economics, history and philosophies of India in a more general way. Karl Eskelund chose the latter option and this book, written in 1967, is the result. He interviews the Dalai Lama, describes his experiences with the caste system and much more. It's never before been published in English.

Uncle Sam's Children - Travels in the USA*
The Crazy War - Travels in Vietnam*
Quietly Flows the Ganges*
And Then We Drove to India
In the Midst of a Hash Moment
Dollar Grin and Gravity