Joy of Self-publishing

I was born and raised in Hungary in Eastern Europe, during the communist era. In 2001, I arrived in the United States, where I cherish democracy and freedom.


Let me tell you a story… I was twenty years old when I went to a tourist trip to Austria, the neighboring country of Hungary. It was the first time in my life that I traveled outside communism. My head was full of pre-suggested ideas.

In the small baroque town of Gmunden, in the youth hostel, I met a young American. We discussed the United States and he explained me with proud how open the American society is. I did not understand the meaning. I answered with self-assurance: "The American society was open one hundred years ago! Nowadays, the classes are settled, society organized and America is as like all the others, directed by money and capital!"

The young man, surprised, contemplated me with seriousness. He answered with the same certainty and self-assurance: "America is still a country of opportunity, where all is possible!" I was dazzled. This simple sentence shook all the twenty years of instruction and education, everything I had heard and knew about America. The young man was of my age. For him, everything was possible…

I went back to Hungary, but in my spirit, this encounter changed something that I could not even express at this time.

Thirty years are gone… Today, I live in Los Angeles. When I had the first printed exemplar of my book in my hands, particular emotions shook my soul. Suddenly, the smiling face of that young American appeared before my tears filled eyes. How right he was! America is still a country of opportunity, where everything is possible.

With my book, I would like to remember my readers of the Berlin Airlift, when Americans and Europeans were protecting side-by-side democracy and freedom.