The Lives of Willi Males: American Deserter in Sweden
The Lives of Willi Males: American Deserter in Sweden
This is a coming-of-age novel about Oklahoma boy Willi Males who goes off to Yale to get educated and become a man. It takes place during the Vietnam War American Style which ate up the 60s and went on and on. Willi never experiences Vietnam but does experience Sweden, which is where he ends up after deserting his army post taking care of war dogs in the States.
Though the book is a generally lighthearted it is among other things a meditation on the ethics of war and killing and is therefore indelibly relevant.
Most autobiographies are stale and self-serving, this is quite the opposite: an engaging story about a boy who chose the road less traveled. And ended up a US deserter in Sweden. /Augustin Erba
William Males was born to school teacher Lorena and her banker husband “Red” Males in 1946 and grew up in Cheyenne, Oklahoma. He eventually ended up in Sweden, as deserter from the army during the Vietnam years. William now lives in Gothenburg with his Eva and is the proud father of three from an earlier marriage, grandfather of two.