Political Fiction
Domar Books, LLC
GateKEEPERS Home
Chapter Excerpts
Where to Buy GateKEEPERS On-line
GateKEEPERS Home

Political Fiction

Mystery & Detective - Historical Based on a True Story  

A David and Goliath type novel based on the true story about a young architect in his late twenties who alone had the courage, knowledge and tenacity to challenge the entire state and national architectural licensing systems all the way to the Halls of the United States Congress to win his license to practice his chosen profession and help to cause the removal and replacement of their national exam.  Portions of his licensing exam were destroyed in violation of Ohio Statutes and an Ohio Law was even changed and signed by the Governor in efforts to stop him - none of those State and Agency efforts worked.

This young architect learned early in his career that innovation and sharing the related knowledge is often opposed by those GATEKEEPERS in power intent to maintain the status quo to maintain THEIR power and strong market positions no matter the financial and opportunity costs to society.



Domar Books is proud to present

GateKEEPERS

a novel by Sheldon Robert Stone & Rudolf B. Schmerl



 

Stone is an award-winning architect originally from Cleveland, Ohio where much of the true story that the novel GATEKEEPERS is based upon took place.  He is a Fellow of the Society of American Registered Architects and is the recipient of their National Presidential Gold Medal.  Schmerl is a retired faculty member of the University of Michigan.


Synopsis

A David and Goliath type novel based on the true story about a young architect in his late twenties who alone had the courage, knowledge and tenacity to challenge the entire state and national architectural licensing systems to win his license to practice and help to cause the removal and replacement of their national exam. This young Ohio architect, Nathan Goldstein, testifies at a 1979 Congressional subcommittee hearing about his experiences with the national examination required to obtain his license to practice his profession. A retired professor of English, Walter Rubin, visits Ellis Island searching for meaning in his memories of his arrival there in the 1930's. In 2005, their stories come together in GATEKEEPERS, a tale of academic and professional intrigue whose parallels in the larger world echo in both their lives and in the events of their times.

 Rubin inherits the diaries of his late friend and neighbor, Harry Rosenberg, and finds himself fascinated by hints of a conspiracy dating back some thirty years to Harry’s career at Ohio State’s School of Architecture, where one of Harry’s most promising students, Nathan Goldstein, had launched a study that his profession had seen as a threat to its most integral marketing practices and political influence.  Forced to stop his work, Nathan began to encounter one inexplicable failure after another on licensing examinations, at appeals to state agencies, even in his relations with his major advisor. More from necessity than choice, Nathan becomes a champion for a cause soon seen as of national interest and concern.  Rubin, whose own background includes acquaintance with more than one form of violence, learns how important it is to distinguish justice from revenge.

  GATEKEEPERS, a collaborative novel, alternates the stories of Nathan Goldstein and Walter Rubin told through the eyes, emotions, and recollections of the architect and the professor.  Intended to inform and provoke as well as to entertain, the story of Nathan’s  persistence in his quest for entrance to his chosen profession will appeal especially to those readers still scarred by their experiences with standardized, machine-scored, multiple-choice examinations–on which so much and so many of our lives depend.




 

All Rights Reserved.
GATEKEEPERS Copyright © 2008 by Sheldon Robert Stone & Rudolf B. Schmerl.
Cover art copyright © 2008 by Sheldon Robert Stone.

The cover art includes a modified photograph of the Great Hall on Ellis Island, c. 1918-20, and a modified photograph of Justice by the U.S. Bureau of Printing & Engraving, both from the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress, and a rendition of a photograph of lightning strokes, taken by C. Clark, in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Photo Library.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, or redistributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express permission in writing from the publisher.

 

Domar Books, LLC



GateKEEPERS HomeChapter ExcerptsWhere to Buy GateKEEPERS On-line