Contents
Poem
Abstract
Introduction
01 My Career Gone
02 A Point of View
03 The Vital Key
04 A Futile Chore
05 Staying Alive
06 Poverty Sticks
07 Relative Heaven
08 The Family Estate
09 The History Line
10 The Capital Men
11 How They Govern
12 Ruling Ourselves
Epilogue
This book is a written work called "The Lost Inheritance". It comprises the documents contained in all files contained in the directory /book and all subdirectories therein. It is my wholly owned intellectual property of which I claim the exclusive copyright.
This book is my point of view. It is an expression of my opinion, which is based on my personal perceptions of my observations and experiences.
"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as adopted and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948.
I hereby claim this, my right to express my opinion freely, and exercise it by publishing my book The Lost Inheritance through the medium of the World Wide Web.
This book has been designed for best viewing in a browser window whose display area [viewport] is 924 pixels wide (excluding scroll bar) with a minimum height of 840 pixels using a 16px DejaVu Sans font. The HTML coding in this book formats the text logically. It does not impose fixed physical formatting. If you have sight impairment or simply prefer larger text, please adjust your browser's zoom or Text Size (usually found in the 'View' menu on your browser).
Any part of this book, no matter how large or small, is to be taken as existing only within the context of the whole of this book, and nothing but this book. This book is my perception of what I observe and experience. It does not purport to be, or to represent, any universal or official view. All stated facts are facts as I perceive them. They are not facts in any absolute, legal or collectively perceived sense.
The full responsibility for what is written in this book is exclusively mine. No other party, such as any who hosts this book on the Internet or publishes it with my permission via any medium, is responsible or liable in any way for its content.
I tried, but in the depth of complicated explanations I found the repeated use of the current 'he/she' vogue makes the language far too cumbersome. Using plurals instead in the midst of plurals referring to other things becomes very confusing. Although I appreciate the apparent sexism, I have therefore, throughout this book, had to resort back to using the male pronoun 'he' to represent both the male case, and the generic pronoun where either gender is equally relevant. Perhaps someone will come up with an official genderless pronoun some day. However this must be short and easily pronounced. I suggest the use of che for male-specific, she for female-specific and he for either or both genders, ie: where gender is not specified.
I wrote the first small embryonic draft of this book between the 1st of October and the 5th of November 1991. I did not complete it fully until 2023. Consequently, the chapters and articles it comprises were originated at various times, spanning over two decades.
Just before publication, I considered aligning the whole book so that all of it spoke as if from a single point in time. However, this seriously eroded the impact of older parts. I therefore opted to leave each chapter and article as a direct observation from the position in time at which it was written.
This does result in apparent anomalies. For example, the farmer, of whom I often speak in the present tense, died in 1996. Nevertheless, I think that having left this book as an observation that spans time, rather than translating it to a view from just one point in time, allows it to deliver its message much more forcefully, clearly and accurately.
If you want to refer to a file in this book, please link to it: don't copy it. That way, you don't breech my copyright. This book is live. I am likely to update any part of it at any time. Therefore, if you link to the part you want, you will always be referring to the up-to-date version.
Sometimes I may get avalanches of email. I am only one person. I have no staff or mail receiving department. Therefore please, please, please don't be offended or feel rebuffed if I don't reply straight away. It could be months, but it is always my wish to reply to constructive emails. So please email me on any subject relevant to what you may read in this book.