Bad Dogs
A Black Cadet in Dixie
Published on 10. March 2021
Book
Hardback
212 pages
978-1-63837-309-4 (ISBN)
Description
Inspired by actual events, this timely, gritty, and thought-provoking novel chronicles the four-year college experiences of Jon Quest, an African American student from the North who is attending a prestigious military university in the South. Jon does not live by the code dictated to African Americans in the South and is therefore repeatedly the target of racist attacks...until he starts fighting back.
Despite constant assaults, Jon refuses to be intimidated by the school's racist students who do not want "his kind" at their esteemed university. His journey to empowerment has begun. He rises to a position of leadership and respect among his peers and begins working to improve conditions for other Blacks on campus. His "take-no-prisoners" efforts focus on eliminating the racial terrorism which is so prevalent at his university. As he continues his campaign of racial empowerment, Jon adeptly uses the very system previously set up to hold them back. But an incident occurs that puts him and the other Blacks on campus in the crosshairs and threatens all they've worked to accomplish. In desperation, Jon forms a secret vigilante squad to protect himself and his friends, and to mete out retribution to those who escape accountability.
Readers are taken on an emotional ride on the roller coaster of racism through the eyes of a recipient of this inexplicable hatred, as this country's leaders of tomorrow reveal their true feelings about white privilege and ingrained racism. The story boldly presents an uncomfortable reality in a raw and thought-provoking manner and shows how many of tomorrow's leaders are infected by yesterday's racism.
More details
Language
English
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
404 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-63837-309-4 (9781638373094)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Ken Gordon Jr. is a storyteller, leader, pastor, and lifelong student of identity, power, and belonging. Bad Dogs: The Complete Story draws from his lived experience as a young Black cadet navigating discipline, expectation, and survival inside a system not built with him in mind-and the man he would later become because of it.A veteran commercial executive with more than 25 years of experience across corporate America, Ken has led global sales organizations, built high-performing teams, and negotiated complex partnerships in highly competitive industries. Yet beneath the professional success lies a deeper narrative-one shaped by early encounters with authority, loyalty, punishment, and resilience. Bad Dogs is the origin story behind that journey.Ken writes with unflinching honesty about boyhood, manhood, and the cost of learning too early how the world categorizes those it does not fully see or recognize. His work explores the quiet moments between rebellion and obedience, the line between discipline and dehumanization, and the lasting imprint of environments that demand conformity without understanding.He is also the pastor of House of Light Church, where he encourages others to live authentic, judgment-free lives-seeking to be better today than they were yesterday. Ken is a lifetime member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and a Diamond Life Member of the NAACP. He is the author of several books, including Combat Zone: Navigating Corporate America While Black, where many of the themes first surfaced in Bad Dogs are carried forward into adulthood. Together, his work forms a continuum-examining how early conditioning shapes confidence, ambition, relationships, and faith.Ken is a husband, father, faith leader, and mentor. He believes stories are not just told to remember the past, but to reclaim it-and to give language to those who were never meant to survive, let alone speak. Bad Dogs: The Complete Story is both a reckoning and a release.