Growing up in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan, in New York City, in the 1940s and 50s, Harry depicts his struggle with conforming to conventional authority, with bittersweet and humorous biographical accounts. From a troubled youth in a neighborhood rife with a vibrant drug and organized gang culture, to achieving a doctoral degree from Columbia University and becoming the CEO of one of the largest Jewish Community Centers in the world, Harry Stern highlights the social, cultural and intra psychic challenges that he faced. His six plus years in Israel, provide insight into the attractions and challenges of living in a vibrant, developing country, fraught with societal deficits, but alive with infinite possibilities. His experiences as a new immigrant in many ways mirrored those of his parents, who immigrated to the United States having escaped the Holocaust.