George Coussoulos

George Coussoulos (1940 -) was born in Manhattan, New York, to Greek Cypriot immigrant parents, grew up in the southern town of Newport News, Virginia and lived his professional life in Northern Virginia. For 25 years he worked in Fairfax County Virginia public schools as an elementary teacher, history teacher, guidance director, and school principal. In a second career he built log homes - first working alone, clearing his land, and constructing a cedar log cabin - and then forming a log home construction company. His first book was for teachers: "Behind Closed Doors - Every Teacher's Chance to Change the World." Always an avid reader of American history, he especially read deeply about slavery in colonial America and became aware of not only the thoroughly racist nature of society throughout the colonies but of the extreme class-consciousness existing despite the notion that liberties exceeded those of old world Europe. He came to believe that it was a natural outgrowth of 18th century attitudes that saw racists and aristocrats create the new government for the new United States. However, he found that this reality seemed to escape 21st century notions of morality - which never fully appreciated the entrenched racism of its nation's history. in his last book - "The Transformation of Thomas Jefferson: The Dilemma of Slavery," Coussoulos presents a best case scenario for the abolition of slavery without a civil war - only to point out to his readers in the epilogue that the premise is based on audacious fiction that could never have altered the unfortunate realities.