Book excerpt: Staying Alive is the sequel to An Innocent ManThe Life and Times of an American Baby Boomer. The first book explored growing up in the 1950s and 1960s. Staying Alive continues the adventure into the serendipitous 1970s. The same characters we enjoyed so much in An Innocent Man return and try to take the great leap from late adolescence into early adulthood. Follow our baby boomers as they struggle to survive college, avoid or cope with the Vietnam War, and eventually join mainstream society. Watch these reckless students try to turn themselves into budding professionals; struggle with marriage, child-rearing, and divorce; and try to survive the ups and downs of the volatile 1970s. Totally submerged in their own lives and interests, they still cant avoid the impacts of multiple wars, two oil embargos, rampant inflation, on-again off-again recession, and other world and life-changing events. Follow Ed Bakers efforts to just keep staying alive, John Fitzmorriss transition from Vietnam to a normal life, Johnny Latellas desire to keep scoringon and off the athletic field, Jerry Prinzs simple desire to succeed in business, and Jack Fitzhughs tenacious struggle to turn bad luck into good. Will they survive the gyrating 1970s, and can they do it alone, or does friendship really make a difference?