The article that you have just finished reading was intended primarily for Europeans curious about how the real America looks today. Those Americans who do not stick their heads in the sand, and who are not out of touch with reality, they know perfectly well themselves how ugly the reality of their country is. And on the other hand, those folks who don't want to know, for them, even a hundred of such articles, like this one, would hardly be of any use.

Working on this article I have used a tremendous amount of information from a variety of sources, which supplemented my own research and observations. I must say that especially valuable to me were wonderful writings by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Marian Wright Edelman. They are very inspiring and informative -- I used them a lot.

I have also made use of statistical data which serves here in this article as the very best corraboration for everything that I've written here. Although it is not a scientific study, I've tried as much as I could to base everything in this article on facts and numbers first of all, not on emotions.

The purpose of writing this article was to say that the nation which neglects and tortures one fourth of its children does not deserve to even think about being a world leader.

Well, for those of you who doubt some or all of what I wrote, or who simply don't trust my opinion: You are welcome to do research of your own. Maybe you'll be able to disprove all said by me. In order to make it a little bit easier for you, I've compiled a list of books that I have used myself. So, I recommend their reading.

I didn't want to put dozens and dozens of information notes in my article, simply because there are already more than enough numbers in the text. It is not a mathematical research paper after all.

You can go straight to the list of Additional Recommended Reading.

There are also quite a few data tables in the appendix that can be helpful. I will keep adding new tables when I find more useful data. The convenience of World Wide Web publishing is that you can make as many improvements and additions as you wish.

And in conclusion, for those stubborn blockheaded American die-hard patriots, all that "love it or leave it" bunch, who might also happen in: This article is definitely not intended for the followers of Gingrichism. They don't care about suffering of children, they simply hate other people's children, and as a Russian proverb says "only a coffin can straighten a hunchback out"...

VALDAS ANELAUSKAS
Eugene, OR - March, 1997