My Ailing Champion: A Memoir

My Ailing Champion details the harsh environment of the Nazi occupation in Greece and the many obstacles the author faced to get an education in the post-WW II years. Family and community leaders opposed education. The author's mother prevented him from reading books. He overcame all obstacles with heroic persistence and some luck and completed his secondary education. To secure free labor, the author's father promised his support for higher education but twice deceived the son. The sisters' dowries were a significant impediment. Ultimately, the family beat up the author and tossed him into the streets hungry, penniless, and jobless, robbing him of his education dream forever. It was for America to throw a lifeline and enable the author to get a college education, even a Ph.D.

Koubourlis defines education as the ability to apply critical thinking. He strives to do so with an honest examination of his life and our world and seeks objectivity in promising dialog of opposing viewpoints; he doesn't shy away from delving into some of the fundamental differences between Communism and Capitalism while suggesting a way to settle diverging viewpoints. Maturing in America, the author developed his critical thinking abilities and prefers evolution to revolution, and conversation to confrontation when attempting to find common ground.

The author expresses his deep gratitude for a chance at the American Dream and bemoans the current state of America, his ailing champion. He casts a hopeful note stemming from America's noble character and long-term aspirations, concluding that, far from being perfect, America is nevertheless the best country the world has ever known.