A Life Out of Whack
Confessions and Reflexions of an Un-American All-American
A Life Out of Whack has two parts. The first part is autobiographical and sketches the atypical early life of a future academic scholar from family poverty to marriage and divorce at nineteen, from eight years in big-city and federal law enforcement to starting college at the age of twenty-six, culminating with a doctoral fellowship in French Studies at Brown U. The second part presents an alternative critical look at contemporary life and ethos: aging, nature, corporate capitalism, and American, French, and global cultures.
Following his experience as a New York City police officer and U.S. Border Patrol agent in the 1970s, Les Essif went to college, got a PhD, and became a university professor. Currently a professor emeritus of French studies at the University of Tennessee—Knoxville, he is the author of numerous articles and books on French theatre and comparative cultures (French and American).
