A man's relationship with his father -- every boy, every man lucky enough to have a father in his life has to figure that out. My own father? I thought I knew him -- even though he seldom talked about himself. And what I knew I hated -- really, really hated. Cold, ill-tempered, thin-skinned, my father always seemed on the brink of erupting. Scared to death of him, I kept telling myself to find the courage to "stand up to him." When I was fifteen, I did. We did not speak to each other for ten years. And then we did -- for eight hours. Dear Father, Dear Sontakes a journey of American history through the eyes of a father -- from his dirt-poor Jim Crow Southern childhood, to the segregated Marine Corp. of World War II, to a janitor turned California businessman. Hard memories. One man discovered a son he never really knew. And the son found a man, a friend, a father who had really been there all along.