AmerigoMerenda writer

The Soviet Network by Amerigo Merenda

The Soviet Network is a story that involves underground saboteurs who gradually dismantle communism’s monolithic ideology. For generations, citizens behind the “iron curtain” were persecuted by dictators who smothered freedom and sheltered tyranny. Family relationships, threatened by espionage and violence, suffered through a reign of terror. Russia’s authoritarian political history will show its ugly face when millions of citizens are denied human rights. Liberal democracy could not penetrate one party’s domination until a respected Ukrainian military officer, Commander Rypchensky, organized a disciplined underground network whose goal was to replace totalitarian despotism with a democratic government. Romantic relationships are trapped in a web of political turmoil where murder and terror rip families and loved ones apart. Reading The Soviet Network will reveal by contrast, how life in a totalitarian culture can destroy our human spirit.

Straight to The White House by Amerigo Merenda

Straight to the White House is a special read for a variety of reasons. It’s a story of a young boy whose repressed childhood trauma emerges later in his adulthood and impacts his personal and professional life choices. A combination of personal strengths allow him to survive the onslaught of psychological demons that emerge. His intellect, perseverance and spiritualism are characteristics that allow him to manage his life successfully but his insecurity concerning his sexuality continues to haunt him. After graduating from Cornell he enters a catholic seminary, fulfilling a long held desire for becoming a Jesuit priest. From this point on his life is made more complicated and interesting when he finds himself attracted to a beautiful woman just before he is drafted into the army during the Vietnam war. Moving forward his life is being challenged by competing forces that pull him in different directions, while his sexual insecurities persist. His search for his true identity continues to evolve while a series of events change his life forever. His mentor, a Jesuit priest who knows him from childhood, plays a key role in clarifying his life ambitions upon his return from Vietnam.