Carmichael's is excited to host James B. Wells for his book, Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son's Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew. He will be joined in conversation by Ellen Birkett Morris. About the Book: Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew is an investigative memoir about a son's thirty-three-year odyssey to uncover the truth and meaning of his whistleblower father's covered-up and still CIA-classified death in Vietnam. Twenty-six years after the CIA Air America plane his father is a passenger in is reportedly brought down by hostile fire in South Vietnam, his youngest son James discovers hundreds of letters his father, Major Jack J. Wells, wrote his mother, Betty, over two wars and a career in the U.S. Army and State Department. The letters compel James to learn more about the father he lost as a child. When he discovers his father was a whistleblower and the details of his death are inexplicably classified, an Odyssean journey for the truth begins. Through archival and field research across two continents, James not only learns about events that shaped his father's love for God, family, country, truth, and duty but also a government lie and a CIA coverup of his death. As the details of a love story about moral injury, post-traumatic resilience, and the consequences of truth-telling evolve, a son connects with the man he barely knew and finds himself along the way. After completing most of his research, where multiple sources corroborate what may be the actual circumstances of his father's death, James seeks spiritual answers that attempt to bring him peace with what he's learned and what he may never know. About the Authors: James Wells (PhD, MFA) is a retired Criminology and Criminal Justice Professor at Eastern Kentucky University's College of Justice, Safety, and Military Science. He has authored/co-authored sixty-five books, chapters, articles, and essays. As a result of learning his father's death in Vietnam is still classified, Dr. Wells has been on a quest to discover the truth, find peace for himself and his family, and write about it. Recent essays appear or are forthcoming in Collateral Journal, About Place Journal, Wild Roof Journal, Military Experience and the Arts, The Wrath-Bearing Tree, Shift, Proud to be: Writings by American Warriors, Trajectory Journal, and From Pen to Page III: More Writings from the Bluegrass Writers Coalition. Links to information about him can be found at https://jamesbwells.com. Ellen Birkett Morris is the author of Beware the Tall Grass: A Novel, selected by Lan Samantha Chang for the Donald L. Jordan Award for Literary Excellence. She is also the author of Lost Girls: Short Stories, winner of the Pencraft Award, and of Abide, and Surrender, poetry chapbooks. Her fiction has appeared in Shenandoah, Antioch Review, Saturday Evening Post, and South Carolina Review, among other journals. Morris is a recipient of an Al Smith Fellowship for her fiction from the Kentucky Arts Council, and grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the Elizabeth George Foundation. Her essays have appeared in The Keepthings, Newsweek, Next Avenue, AARP’s The Ethel, Oh Reader magazine, and on National Public Radio. Find her at ellenbirkettmorris.com.

Information Source: Carmichael's Bookstores | eventbrite

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Time:	Jun 26, 2025 (UTC-5) ENDED
Location:	2720 Frankfort Ave

James B. Wells discusses Because with Ellen Birkett Morris | 2720 Frankfort Ave

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