From two short stories and fragments of others comprising basically an outline by the author, grows a masterpiece--after 14-months, a most lucid novel, perhaps the best account of a cross-cultural form of intolerance, in historical-fiction in a long time. Based on actual events, Stay Down, Old Abram, the author paints two streets, one white, one black--in this tragic game where moods and friction bring out the roots of deeply idealistic rejection and suppressed tendencies, all embedded in the narrative. One might even conclude, this story is not all that much different than what took place in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, outside of Baghdad recently, although in a thinner angle: yet in both cases we see undisciplined soldiers working in sensitive spots. The time and place is West Germany, mid-l970's. By Rosa Peñaloza Translator, Writer "I had read some of Dennis Siluk's books and I liked them very much, the stories and topics touched in each one. I could say that reading them they carry you inside the story and you begin to dream and dream as if you were part of the story." Nancy De Valencia English Teacher