"I suspect we'll see each other at breakfast more than dinner," Jan said. "Your goal is to stay out God knows how late knocking on doors until you've made a sale."

"That's my MO, and it can make for a long night. On the other hand, I rack up a lot of business when everybody else has gone beddy-bye."

"We have a problem of mismatched circadian rhythms. By nine at the latest, I'm asleep."

"During the week, if I get to the office before noon, I'm in good shape. I hope you'll stay up late for me a few evenings a week."

"It will take getting used to. I'm no night owl, and my job at the school is nine to five."

"Before we know it, we'll be geezers. We need to enjoy our prime of life. You're an old lady of twenty-two and I'm only twenty."

She pretended to slap me. "Thank you very much, sir. I guess it's downhill from here. We had a good system at UCLA: work together, play together. Studying together took on a sensual dimension."

"That's why we got married - unlimited sex." I laughed.

"Excuse me. I wouldn't say unlimited. We both need to be in the mood."

"Thank you, Betty Friedan. I agree with her. There's a difference between truly mysterious femininity and a false mystique of subservient womanhood."

"I think your mother was a good influence on you."

"Very true. I admire her strength and independence. Not so much my dad."

Read "The Bookmen"

"Anyhow, it's a good thing my daddy's a doctor. He prescribed a lifetime supply of contraceptive pills."

"Speaking of books, it reminds me of that book your former fiancé gave you, Love Without Fear - of unwanted bambinos."

"The truism that professional women constantly hear is that we'll get pregnant and drop out. Yes, women can get pregnant, but the last time I looked it takes sperm and an ovum."

"Quite right. That criticism of women is prurient, maybe Puritanical too. You're just sex machines. It also implies male dominance."

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1960s, Autobiographical Fiction, Medical Experience, The Bookmen

Another Excerpt From “The Bookmen”

1960s, Autobiographical Fiction, Medical Experience, The Bookmen

The summer of 1965 is a pivotal time in American history. As the Vietnam War expands toward its ultimate heavy American involvement, the Watts Riots presage the urban unrest of the late 1960s.

This insightful novel follows newlywed couple Max and Jan King, who have just graduated college and are both preparing to start med school at MCLA, a former osteopathic college in East Los Angeles. Max returns to his summer job selling encyclopedias door-to-door, while Jan works in the school’s lab.

Max’s long work hours create a gap in the couple’s previous 24/7 harmonious relationship, which becomes strained due to their incompatible work times. He hangs out a lot with his friend, Art Burton, a brainy Stanford pre-law graduate, who has encyclopedic knowledge of current events and warns about America’s creep toward a full commitment fighting in Vietnam. Max is also exposed to the enticement of drug use and the free love era. This story is truly a Requiem for the Sixties.

1960s, Autobiographical Fiction, Medical Experience, The Bookmen

Autobiographical Fiction, Medical Experience, 1960s, 1970s

Read The Medical Trilogy

Autobiographical Fiction, Medical Experience, 1960s, 1970s

Read the medical trilogy by Henry Rex Greene

Autobiographical Fiction, Medical Experience, 1960s, 1970s

Medical Experience, 1960s, Book Excerpts

an Excerpt from “Thirteen Months a year”

Medical Experience, 1960s, Book Excerpts

Max and Jan King start their internships at LA county hospital at the end of the sixties. Max finds his way after four difficult years of medical school. Jan struggles with an abusive program. Max meets Abe Grant, an activist, the son of a communist and is drawn into far left politics. During the year conditions become untenable at the hospital. The young physicians on the internal medicine service hold a heal in protesting sub-standard care. In the end the establishment resident who chairs the Intern-Resident association co-opts them and wheedles a pay raise for everyone that takes the steam out of their activism. At the end of the year Max becomes chair of the activist group and learns that their pay raise came out of the hospital's clinical budget and has put them right back in the same mess.

Medical Experience, 1960s, Book Excerpts

"Nothing can make me quit. All I've wanted my whole life is to be a physician. If we have an accident, I won't get an abortion. I'll waddle through my classes and stay on track to graduate with my MD degree."

"And you'll be a fine physician."

She smiled demurely. "I have the looks, and you have the brains."

"That's not true. I'm not bad looking."

She fake smacked me again.

Another Excerpt From “The Bookmen”

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