Amos and the Cosmos
by
Alan Schwartz
A rollicking journey through America’s heart and soul.
Storyteller explores America, civil rights, war, and the Cosmos in new fiction.
In 1984, Amos Boris Lardowitz, with a lifelong fascination for American history and the handwritten word, decides to publish the love letters of Rebecca, an African-American slave. Rebeccas original poetry and prose are interspersed with Amoss descriptions of her every thought and movement, a literary coup although traditionally controversial. It became a world-wide success. What Amos does not reveal is that she is his Jewish fathers grandmother, a discovery that began by finding an old photo of his fathers sister in his parents attic in 1955 at age fifteen, and then ending by discovering Rebeccas original letters in 1968 in West Virginia and her relationship as his dads grandmother.
And so begins the incredible story by author Alan Schwartz, Amos and the Cosmos: A Rollicking Journey Through America’s Heart and Soul.
Facing the imminent passing of his father in 1990, Amos decides to finally publish his memoirs. He now feels compelled to tell the story of his life and quest that lead to the discovery of Rebecca. His memoirs, he feels, will become the window to his personal world that will complete the now famous Rebecca and her life and his familys relationship to her.
From that moment in the attic at fifteen, Amoss life becomes a journey of personal discovery, enabled by meeting his mentor Ben, a dealer in rare manuscripts and a savvy and astute observer of human creativity. Ben introduces Amos to the Cosmos where all energy lives and all brilliant people get their creativity. He travels with Ben to the Delta of Mississippi to share Thanksgiving with the early Blues greats in the Black community of Mound Bayou educating him to racial inequality in America and learns from him the roots music of the African Diaspora and the stream of consciousness writings of American novelists including Allan Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, with whom he becomes friends.
Amos and the Cosmos: A Rollicking Journey Through America’s Heart and Soul is a thoughtful, deep, and unique story, set within historic America. It is not a formula plot. Amoss reflections and experiences come from the deepest places.
“I feel that most people will identify with something within themselves in the book,” Schwartz says. “The characters are colorful, and the reader is taken on a journey to many interesting places both literally and figuratively.”
Schwartz’s story almost becomes a fable near its culmination as Amos discovers his American ancestral home and the eventual discovery of Rebecca and her relationship to his family.
Through a captivating read, Amos and the Cosmos touches on important themes:
The dichotomy that is America
The consequences of war
The incessant search for our family roots and ancestry
The Cosmos: what is it? Is it real?
“Amos and the Cosmos is an easy read and covers a broad swath of history. It is humorous, tender, and at times filled with pathos,” adds Schwartz. “It will as well stimulate readers to philosophically ponder Amoss inner being.”
About the Author
Alan Schwartz’s professional life as a veterinarian and business owner has grounded him to the material world, although his special attachment to care-giving has broadened his being and heightened his empathy and compassion. The ethereal side of his being is filled with creativity, spiritual yearning, curiosity, and a deep passion for America. This is the part of Schwartz that emerges in Amoss story. He has had a lifelong fascination with American history and especially the Civil War era. Schwartz has also seen Americas duality in many things; her beauty and frailty, her confidence and insecurity, her tolerance and intolerance. Schwartz has been firmly grounded to the real world through his profession and business yet has been constantly searching philosophically and spiritually, just as Amos has his whole life.
