Jacob's Ladder

Jacob's Ladder is a work of fiction-historical fiction. Although the storyline parallels incidents that occurred in five generations of my family, the characters do not exist in real life. Jacob M. Stein's name will not be found in the archives of the Virginia Military Institute nor is it listed among the graduates from The Chicago Medical School in 1958. There is no record of Dr. Stein ever training at the Boston City Hospital, and Military Records will not reveal that Lieutenant Stein ever served in the Army in Korea.

Places are real. The Barracks at the Virginia Military Institute is a registered National Historic Landmark and stands today as described. The Biology Building is named the Robert P. Carroll Building, although graduates of the class of 1953 may see a striking similarity between Doc Carroll and Doc Charles.

The Chicago Medical School is now known as the Herman Finch University of Health Sciences and has been moved from the west side of Chicago to Waukegan, Illinois. The Boston City Hospital merged with the University Hospital to become the Boston Medical Center. The Dowling Building is the last survivor of a gone-by era.

Actions of characters depicted in the novel are purely fictional although there may be similarity between the story-book characters and members of my family. In no way

should the reader think that these actions are anything but figments of my imagination.

The historical events that weave in and out of the storyline are actual and are used to depict throughout all four books of the Quartet-Pass in Review-how the world evolved throughout the twentieth century from the telegraph to cyberspace; from the horse and buggy to outer space.

Jacob's Ladder continues from where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--Book One of the Quartet ends. Reference is made in Book Two to events in Book One, but to enjoy reading about these events, the reader may want to read Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob perhaps prior to taking on Jacob's Ladder.