Paradise Lost A Year on a Vanishing Island with the Exiled Bikinians in the Marshall Islands

This is book is about my personal experiences living with the exiled Bikinians on the island of Kili and teaching 6th, 7th and 8th grade English and Math in the Republic of the Marshall Islands from 1987 - 1988. It's something I've been thinking about writing for a long time, but my previously wild and wooly work schedule got in the way of doing pretty much everything but working. I read and re-read multiple letters from my wife, listened and re listened to cassette tapes that we sent back and forth that jogged my memory to more accurately depict the good times and well, some of the less than good times. The story takes you from what led me there in the first place, how the Bikinians ended up on Kili (instead of Bikini...) and some of my many, many, many mishaps. According to Wikipedia, between 1946 and 1958, 23 nuclear devices were detonated by the United States at seven test sites located on the reef, inside the atoll, in the air, or underwater. Prior to the testing, the U.S. moved the Bikinian community to a nearby atoll, Rongerik. They were left alone there for a year and when Dr. Leonard Mason, a U.S. anthropologist went to visit them at the request of the Trust Territory High Commissioner, he found they were literally starving. Dr. Mason was able to convince U.S. authorities to move them from Rongerik to Kwajalein Atoll, giving them time to figure out where to move next. After looking at all of their options, the Bikinians moved to Kili in 1948. Kili is a single island and nothing like Bikini. That's the shortest of short stories of how the Bikinians ended up on Kili, and while there is a bit of history woven into the book, this is primarily my story. I hope you enjoy it.