Terminal Junction

"Terminal Junction" presents a literary portrait of America's Heartland during the late forties and fifties. The result is a look at the American Dream in a unique period, and one that began to shape national values and concerns in the latter half of the century.

The author uses both narrative descriptive and fictional short story techniques to recreate the era in describing the ethnic, blue collar neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas, where he grew up.

His work is also laced with colorful recollections of growing up own among his own ethnic Serbian people. Ironically, his look into their past offers interesting and contemporary clues in explaining the defiance of a Balkan society that was to entangle the nation, and the world, in conflict at the turn of the century in Kosovo.

Completing the circle, the author returns to his hometown after more than fifty years to offer a journalist's observations on what has changed. His discoveries lead to an uneasy truce between his vivid memories and the harsh realities of the present.

"Terminal Junction" is a must read for students of American culture and values, and the role of ethnic contributions. In addition, to those interested in better understanding the power of the Heartland in influencing and shaping the nation's destiny.

Steven Dushan Milakov, 59, is the Corporate Communications Director for Caltex in the Republic of Singapore where he resides with his wife, Jeanie. He has been a teacher, magazine journalist, public relations executive, and color commentator for ESPN-Asia. He has a BA in journalism from Cal State Los Angeles, and an MA in Communications Management from the Annenberg School of Communications, University of Southern California.

Mr. Milakov was the co-developer of Singapore's first successful mass communications educational program at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. He has also lectured in Australia and the US.

His son, Tim, 24, has been recently selected to the US Army OCS program following his graduation from the University of New Orleans. His daughter, Stacey Anne, 29, is a teacher's aid in preparation for a grade school teaching career in Southern California.

"Terminal Junction" is his first book on ethnic Serbs and the Heartland region.