"What Next: A Memoir Toward World Peace" by Walter Mosley

A Book Review

During a phone call, Walter Mosley was enjoying the view of the Hudson River from his apartment when he heard a "concussion". It took a moment for his eyes to find the source of the sound that September 11, 2001 morning. "What Next: A Memoir Toward World Peace" by Walter Mosley is not about the 9/11 tragedy, but the tragedy inspired the book. What next? Indeed. Many US citizens pondered the same question. Mosley wrote a book about it. "What Next: A Memoir Toward World Peace" is his musings on the subject seen through a unique perspective.

When I think of Walter Mosley, I think: Detective Novels. Good ones. He created one of my favorite characters with Easy Rawlins, a war vet turned reluctant, Private Investigator. Mr. Mosley's mysteries give the reader an inside view of life in contemporary urban America, specifically Los Angeles, California. Growing up in Los Angeles, he writes what he knows. Perhaps moving to New York City and the events surrounding the WTC attacks, caused Mr. Mosley to switch his focus to the Science Fiction realm with books such as "The Wave". Maybe he just wanted to try his hand at a new genre. He also writes poetry, which I did not know, but read on the book jacket of "What's Next".

Not that "The Wave" is about boarding the next spacecraft that lands on earth and leaving the planet before we blow the planet to pieces. (all I am saying is give peace a chance?) Sci-Fi never interested me, but with the ever present threat of global destruction exploring futurist galactic concerns is a nice form of escaping today's issues. Some events I read in my brother's Sci-Fi as a kid, came to pass in my lifetime. In "What Next", Mosley clearly shows an understanding of the need for global peace. Published in 2003, "What Next", gave me an eerie feeling that he was somehow taking a peek into the future, which is today.