Life in a Rat Maze

About the Book

About the Author

The author, R. Robert Stackman was born in a family of eight chidldren in South Bend, Indiana in 1923. Because the parents lacked the necessary "parental skills," judicial authorities removed four of the youngsters (all male, and including the author) from their dysfunctional family. The juvenile system placed the boys in an institution commonly referred to as an "Orphans Home." Obviously it was not restricted to orphans. It was an institution more like a corretional or reform school. The institution was short on guidance but long on discipline, bordering on abuse. Following eight and one-half years of incarceration, the author decided that he had had enough of instutional life. He ran away. Unlike many youngsters who decided upon their own to leave the institution, he was not returned. He completed his high school education in South Bend. Later after some zigging and zagging, the author received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Indiana University. After teaching high school in Indiana and Ohio, Stackman received his Ph. D. from Michigan State University. The majority of his years was spent in the classroom as a professor of history at Slippey Rock University in Pennsylvania. He is married and the father of three chidren.