WARTS AND ALL

Having reached age four score Mansfield expressedconcern about who might want to read a geezer''smusings. Still he chose the book''s title WARTSAND ALL meaning ''the whole thing not concealingthe less attractive parts.'' It''s about family and friends wins and losses triumphs and failures praise andderision love and hate humor and pathos wisdomand folly commendation and reproach conservatismand liberalism joy and sadness war and peace andjust about anything else.His primary inspiration is the late Dr. CharlesKrauthammer specifically his 2015 book ThingsThat Matter: Three Decades of Passions Pastimes andPolitics. Per Amazon he was America''s preeminentcolumnist named by the Financial Times the mostinfluential commentator in the nation. Mansfieldconsiders him a man of unparalleled intellect.The other major inspiration is Mansfield''s lifelongfriend classmate and teammate Tom Kiley co-authorof their acclaimed 2021 book THE PERFECT SEASON: The Untold Story of Chaminade High School''s FirstUndefeated and Untied Varsity Football Team.This work is eclectic non-fiction that is honest humorous politically incorrect no-nonsense andtimely. For readers of Mansfield''s earlier books thestories herein may be familiar for many of them like Dr. Krauthammer''s derive from ones alreadypublished.