A Really Enjoyable Christmas Gift

By John J. Duncan Jr.

duncanj@knoxfocus.com

I really appreciate the very nice things people have said and written to me about my book “From Batboy to Congressman – Thirty Years in the U.S. House.”

Many people have said it is just like I am sitting there with them telling these stories in person. This may be because I have written every word of this book myself – no ghostwriter.

May I suggest that this book would be a very enjoyable Christmas or birthday present for anyone who is interested in politics, sports, and/or unusual legal cases.

The book contains 203 vignettes or short stories from my career as a lawyer, judge and congressman, and every story – every word – is true.

I wrote the book because over the years, after I would tell a story in a speech, interview, or just in ordinary conversation,  I must have had at least 100-200 people say to me, “You need to write a book.”

I got my undergraduate degree in journalism, worked full-time as a newspaper reporter my senior year, and taught journalism for a year.

I have always liked to write, and I have written many serious columns and articles for newspapers and magazines all through my career. I am now in my fifth year as a columnist for The Focus.

The stories in my book are about half serious, half humorous, and many stories are both. A friend of mine from Nashville told me it was the funniest book he had ever read, and he meant that as a compliment.

I was told that my book has sold more copies than any book published by U.T. Press except possibly books written by professors who have required their students to buy them over a period of several years.

There are stories about sex on an airplane, desperate housewives, Baptist men stealing airport toilet paper, the only time the word urinated was used in an obituary, etc., all related to my work in Congress.

There are stories from Air Force One and my interaction with all the presidents with whom I served.

There are stories about Tennessee political figures like Howard Baker, Ned McWherter, Don Sundquist, Jimmy Quillen and others. You will learn what Howard Baker’s favorite story was and what Lamar Alexander called the worst job in the state.

It is worth the price of the book to read the full letter from the boy from Knoxville who wrote to me asking if he got two million signatures, could I do away with homework. Among other reasons, he said it was putting kids in “a state from which they might never recover.”

One story you will really enjoy is one that the famous Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill put in his last book. It was a conversation I had with a 79-year-old woman who loved my Dad but never voted for him because “he was too good a man to put into politics.”

You will read about the time I was offered several million dollars in legal campaign contributions to run for the Senate, and why I turned this generous offer down.

You will read about what my late wife, Lynn, said to Donald Trump after I endorsed him for president that he thought was one of the funniest things anyone ever said to him.

You will read about why I voted against going to war in Iraq after having tremendous pressure put on me in a little secure room at the White House.

You will read about how I became, like Reagan and Eisenhower, not pacifists, but very anti-war Republicans.

You will read that I got along just as well with the Democrats in Congress as with the Republicans so I could get things done for our District.

The price for my book at a bookstore or on Amazon is $24.95 plus tax. The U.T. Press lets me sell the book myself for $20.00, which includes the sales tax, for a savings of a little over $7.00. Just email me at duncanj@knoxfocus.com for details. If you purchase one of my books, I will be happy to sign it for you. If you want it mailed to you, you will have to add $7.00 for the special envelope and postage. If you buy my book and really don’t enjoy it, I will give your money back to you. I doubt you have ever received that kind of offer on any other book.

Several men have told me they enjoyed the book so much that they got their wives to read it and that they enjoyed it, too. Someone else told me that the book had already been passed around to four other family members who read it after they finished reading it. I hope you will enjoy it, too!