An American in Lyon, France: From the Espresso Bar to the Old City -- Three Years that Changed My Life

The true story an American university student who spent three years in France from 1968 to 1972 as a student and a social worker, of how he adapted to another culture, and how it changed his life.

The book begins in the spring of 1968. The author was in his sophomore year of university and was depressed by the war in Vietnam and how it had eclipsed the civil rights movement and the war on poverty. Everyone was saying “Make love not war” but the author couldn’t find a girlfriend! What begins as a story of 1960s disillusionment turns a series of unusual people and adventures.

He goes first to a French university, then spends two years as a social worker in 100% French-speaking jobs, making friends and learning French culture.

It's a memoir of the 1960s, a coming-of-age story, and an introduction to French culture, full of unusual people, encounters and stories. The final chapter is an update on the author’s life and those of his closest friends 50+ years later.