Introduction to the published writings
of William J. "Bill" Bonville

Bill began his writing career in the U. S. Navy at the end of World War II after his bombing squadron flying PB2Y-5 aircraft was deactivated. Serving as a correspondent with Naval Air Transport Service Squadron VR-4, his first by-line was on a feature story in the NATS Packet magazine in 1946. Fifty years later, one of his more recent bylines came on an article in Conservative Consensus, sharing the masthead list of contributors with Pat Buchanan and others.

During the intervening half century he was a reporterfor the Worcester (MA) Telegram, and later worked as a"stringer" for the Denver Post while attending Colorado University. In 1954, Bill left the university to become editor of the former Gallup, NM, Times. A year later he moved to Los Angeles, California to become a technical editor for an aerospace company. In 1956 Bill went to Aerojet General Corporation, Azusa, CA, where he worked for twenty five years, advancing to Manager of Technical Documentation and Training.

During his years with Aerojet he authored many technical books, research reports, and training manuals. In his spare time he wrote a novel, Something of a Woman, and a philosophical study, Footnotes to a Fairytale: A Study of the Nature of Expression in the Arts. The latter work was the combined fruit of his major academic studies with his research supporting advanced learning systems development while at Aerojet.

Taking early retirement in 1981, Bill moved his family to a small farm in Oregon where they raise cattle and have taken time to travel extensively in Europe and the Middle East.

Past studies in cultural history led Bill to undertake an in-depth visit to Southern Italy, but he found there were no guides that delved more than superificially into the region. In frustration, he decided to research the area of Italy south of Rome, and prepared extensive personal notes to guide such a trip. Enthused by his experience in do-it-yourself travel, he translated his notes into a travel guidebook that was published in 1988 by Mills and Sanderson as Sicilian Walks. This led to further researches which have been published by SynergEbooks as a travel adventure e-book series.

Following is a chronological list of Bill Bonville's published "trade" books. The list is accompanied by selected reviewer comments. Some of his books are out of print, but a limited number of copies of such books are available from the author at the prices quoted, which include shipping and handling.

Something of a Woman -- A Novel; Exposition Press, 1968 Available from the author; $17

"Bonville's Something of a Woman is an intriguing narrative of a woman's struggle to find happiness and her real self. The strong undercurrent of psychological, philosophical and social conflict gives intellectual zest to the story... The author weaves in many pungent social comments that penetrate to the core of the world that produced the emotionally torn personalities that amble across his printed page. The reader will find some semblance of a Beth or two among his own experiences."
Paul Burig, The Wheeling News-Register

"Bonville's is a bright, fresh talent that literally leaps from the printed page. In Something of a Woman, he presents impressive credentials of authorship: a sensitivity of style and language, and craftsmanship of the first order. The novel is a skillful blending of pure philosophy and true storytelling..."
Gordon Guist, Asbury Park Press

Footnotes to a Fairytale: A Study of the Nature of Expression in the Arts; Warren H. Green, Inc., $15. ISBN 0-87527-192-8 http://www.whgreen.com/FootnotesBonville.html Signed copies also available from the author, $17.

"Although addressed to the specialist, Footnotes to a Fairytale is written in the style of literary criticism, with a lucidity and ease that makes it a work of interest to a much larger audience to everyone who has come to art and wondered about the seemingly ineffable magic of its spell." Social Science

"The book (Footnotes to a Fairytale) is obviously one of real substance and importance. It deserves to be widely read and greatly appreciated."
Professor Hazel E. Barnes, Colorado University

"This specific character of this study-- the conceptual unification of philosophical analysis and scientific research, the subjective orientation of analytical psychology with the objective researches of the neurosciences, the correlations such as of Aristotle's universal statements' with modern concepts of genetics and ethology-- was the most striking to me of Bonville's work."
Dr. Stanley L. Levine, University of Southern California

Sicilian Walks; Mills and Sanderson, 1988. (Out of print.) Signed copy available from the author, $15.

"A good writer who emphasizes historical perspectives and gives sound advice, Bonville is informal and ardent in his enthusiasm for the sites and culture of Sicily. Chatty, romantic and mildly erudite, this book is for the casual, earthy traveler who enjoys sedate adventure and discovery....and (wishes to) absorb the rich culture and lasting beauty of these overlooked provinces. ..It's a lovely book..." Carolyn I. Alexander, Small Press

"Here are walking tours, explorations....that combine a vivid sense of ancient and modern times. Bonville has a nice, easy gait to his writing as he brings to life the captivating, almost dreamlike arena that was a Greek-Roman battleground... Bonville has a real feel for history."
The Bookreader

A Traveler's Greece: Exploring the History and Culture of Mainland Greece, SynergEbooks, 2005. E-book $6.50; CD ROM $7.50
http://www.synergebooks.com/ebook_travelersgreece.html

"Whenever I see the title of a new book on the Graeco-Roman world, I whisper to myself, What can this author teach me?' After all, I was born on that tiny peninsula which gave us more great civilizations than any other corner of the planet. As a child I used to run to their monumental remains, gape at them, enjoy them, dance among them, sing amidst the rustling pines and read countless books describing and explaining every aspect of their grandeur. Usually I assign a C' grade to such new works.

"Bonville's book on the Sicilies and ancient Magna Graecia gained an A.'

"Then I received A Traveler's Greece. Come on,' I said to myself. Can Bonville triumph twice?' Nevertheless, I promised myself to read at least the chapter, Athens: Queen City of Hellas. How surprised and ecstatic I was! My beloved and extremely familiar city became exciting in a novel fashion. A new insight here. A minute detail bursting forth like a shooting star there. An original combination of scattered marbles and broken statues form a scintillating constellation somewhere else. So I read one more chapter...and then another...and another...to the end. What a triumph!" Panos Bardis, PhD, late Professor Emeritus, University of Toledo; Editor, International Journal of World Peace

A Traveler's Two Sicilies, SynergEbooks, 2005, E-Book, $6.50; CD ROM $7.50.
http://www.synergebooks.com/ebook_travelerstwosicilies.html (A revised edition of Sicilian Walks; Mills and Sanderson, 1988 (Out of print.))

"Most travel books tend to be encyclopedic lists of data or personal reminiscences that may be fun to read but have little relevance to travels of your own. This book is different. It is the narrative description of an adventure, an exploration of the history and culture of the Two Sicilies.

"Years of bad press' about the Italian south from Naples to Palermo tended to steer travelers away from the region. Here is a book that sets the record straight... Sicily and Sicilians, this book shows us, are very special."
Paula Burgess, Montachusett Times

A Traveler's Highway to Heaven: Exploring the History and Culture of Northern Spain, SynergEooks, 2005. E-book $6.50; CD ROM $7.50; Paperback $24.98.
http://www.synergebooks.com/ebook_travelershighwaytoheaven.html

This rugged land was home since pre-history for tough, independent-minded Celts, Iberians and Vascons (Basques). These feisty peoples and their mountains made Northern Spain the last frontier for every conqueror of the Iberian Peninsula, whether Carthaginian, Greek, Roman, Vandal, Goth or Arab. After a thousand years fending off invaders, these northern peoples turned history upside down. They conquered the south during a centuries-long duel with the armies of Islam. More than achieving mere victory, they created a new culture that produced seeds for a new language and a nation, Spain, where none had been before. This book explores the fascinating, visible record of the birth and maturation of that national culture, its history and the people who created the nation as it came to be. The evidence is nowhere more apparent than in the villages, towns and cities along El Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James, the Highway to Heaven named for the Warrior Saint whose miracles inspired the battle cry, "Santiago!" for a thousand years.