Silence, Exile and Cunning

Memoir of a Life at Work

Jack Oakley

I always wanted to write a novel about the sorrow of mortality and the ineffability of beauty–but this is what I’m stuck with: a book about work, white-collar middle class white boss work in America.

–Jack Oakley

Silence, Exile and Cunning: Memoir of a Life at Work is a provocative and cutting account of living a working life in America. It presents a slice of American history lived through education, work and the pursuit of professional contentment, if not happiness. As a cautionary tale it exposes the difficulty of trying to do your job with integrity while keeping it from snuffing out your passions and making a mockery of your intelligence. If there’s any hope that “work” in the 21st century will not deaden people’s souls and foster unnatural relationships between people more professionals like Jack Oakley must tell it like it is.