By Rick Gerardi
In his new book, Rick writes about his protagonist, Eric Russo, experiencing night terrors, a psychiatrist’s use of hypnosis to address his trauma, a significant dose of historical fiction and a story of the dangers of political toxicity that reaches into our daily lives. The hypnosis sessions finally open a portal to an astonishing past-life narrative of a Colonial builder and militiaman, which may help explain his condition and the answer to the night terrors’ puzzle that may contain an underlying lesson. Eric must face the spiritual ramifications of the past-life sessions and the foolishness of attempting to withdraw from active life in a divisive political climate. It’s a trip full of betrayal, struggle, drama, humor, and, in the end, salvation.
Below are some of the books Rick used as reference materials to ensure accuracy in the description of detailing the process and experience of hypnosis as a therapeutic tool, the historical accuracy of Eric’s past life narrative and the plausibility of the Past life experience itself? They are all academic in nature and guided the descriptions of Eric Russo’s journey for a cure.
Psychiatry, Hypnosis and Past Life experiences
Hypnosis in Practice
By H. Lawrence Shaw
This is a classic academic look at the use of Hypnosis and its application in stress and disease treatments. It offers a basic straightforward and scientific approach to the practical use of hypnosis by clinicians.
Many Lives, Many Masters
The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past Life Therapy that Changed Both Their Lives
By Brian L. Weiss, M.D.
This book introduced Rick to the academic side of the field of Past Life regressions. Brian L. Weiss, M.D.,a graduate of Columbia University and Yale Medical School, is Chairman Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. His diligent and detailed recording of past life experiences has awakened a skeptical academic world to the remarkable reality of past life experiences. In “If Not Us…” Dr. Edit Mada is loosely based on Dr. Weiss.
Miracles Happen: The Transformational Healing Power of Past Life Memories
By Amy E. Weiss, Brian L Weiss
This book contains numerous stories of people who have undergone regressions and together they present a catalog of an incredible diversity of experiences that will challenge the most skeptical of readers. These stories, like a microcosm of the entire field of regression therapy, illustrate a widely varying range of past lives, yet they also point again to the fundamental commonalities in our soul’s journey and evolution.
Portrait of a Past Life Skeptic: The True Story of a Police Detective’s Reincarnation
By Robert L. Snow
A veteran police detective, Robert Snow, was devoted to evidence and hard facts- he had never given any thought to reincarnation. But during a hypnotic regression, he experiences a vivid awareness of being alive in three separate historical scenes. This book was valuable as Rick tried to capture Eric Russo’s frustration and skepticism of the past life experience through which he was going.
Colonial Life, Roger’s Rangers, The Battle of Saratoga
War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America’s First Frontier
By John F. Ross
Often hailed as the godfather of today’s elite Special Forces, Robert Rogers trained and led an unorthodox unit of green provincials, raw woodsmen, farmers and Indian scouts on impossible missions for the British Army in colonial America during the French and Indian War. Ebenezer Ladd, Eric Russo’s alter ego in his Past Life regression in “If Not us… “, becomes a member of Roger’s Rangers as a young Colonial settler in the upper Hudson Valley. Rick referenced this book to describe the everyday details of the unconventional tactics of the Rangers and the inevitable animus that grew toward their British “Lobster back” allies in their fight against the French.
Stark: The Life and Wars of John Stark
By Richard V. Polhemus, John F. Polhemus
John Stark was a French and Indian War Ranger and a Revolutionary War General. He led a band of men from New Hampshire, as an independent force through both wars. Stark was an ornery, difficult man, but no one ever questioned his bravery or competence on the field of battle. Stark is a strong presence in Ebenezer’s military life in If Not us his over two decades of service.
Saratoga: Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War
By Richard Ketchum
In the summer of 1777, the British launched an invasion from Canada under General Burgoyne, to cleave the nascent nation of America along the Hudson River. Ketchum offers a stirring narrative history, skillfully told through those who fought in the campaign. This book brings to life the inspiring story of Americans who did their utmost in what seemed a lost cause, achieving what proved to be the crucial victory of the revolution. While much of the book told of the tactics and details of the two battles of Saratoga, Rick, in his book, “If Not Us…”, culled out the descriptions, feelings and action of the actual men and neighbors who fought with, and against, each other in those three weeks of Saratoga.
Saratoga: A Military History of the Decisive Campaign of the American Revolution
By John F. Luzader
John Luzader is a former National Park Service ranger who served at the Saratoga National Battlefield. Much of his book comes from original archival research and his own familiarity with the challenging terrain of the battlefield. His telling of the events of those days in September and October, give a sometimes different perspective than those of other historians. Rick found his insights invaluable in recreating the events of the Battle contained in Eric Russo’s Past Life narrative in his book, “If Not Us…”.
1777: Tipping Point at Saratoga
By Dean Snow
Assimilating the archeological remains from the battlefield along with the many letters, journals and memoirs of the men and women in both camps, Snow’s 1777 provides a richly detailed narrative of the battle of Saratoga. Snow, an archeologist who excavated on the Saratoga battlefield, combines a vivid sense of time and place -with details on weather, terrain and technology and the motivations behind the adversaries’ actions. Journal entries and letters became a rich source of insight for Rick Gerardi in his book, “If Not us…” about the conditions and thinking of the men on the grounds during those 3 fall weeks in 1777.
