Once upon a time, Michael Katakis lived in a place of big dreams, bright
colours and sleight of hand. That place was America. One night, travelling
where those who live within illusions should never go, he stared into the
darkness and glimpsed a faded flag where shadows gathered, revealing
another America. It was a broken place, bred from fear and distrust - a
thousand shards of glass - filled with a people who long ago had given away
all that was precious; a people who had been sold, for so long, a foreign
betrayal that finally came from within, and for nothing more than a handful
of silver. These essays, letters and journal entries were written as a
farewell to the country Michael loves still, and to the wife he knew as his
'True North'. A powerful and personal polemic, A Thousand Shards of Glass
is Michael's appeal to his fellow citizens to change their course; a
cautionary tale to those around the world who idealise an America that
never was; and, crucially, a glimpse beyond the myth, to a country whose
best days could still lie ahead. 'A Thousand Shards of Glass, a book
written with remarkable prescience some years ago, recounts with sad
eloquence his disillusionment with America. His is a voice full of common
sense and simple humanity that seem to have been lost in contemporary
America. It is a voice both kind and angry, the voice of a reasonable man
who has not lost his idealism but who is deeply troubled by what he sees
and describes so clearly' Dr. Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm 'Katakis
writes with an economic elegance about the rift between America as
advertised and America as experienced with the passion and precision of a
poet' Rick Klefell, NPR