Dennis Toombs

In writing “Power”, Dennis Toombs’ international outlook began with his coming of age in a Texas border town in the 1950s—having a “multicultural” experience before the term was commonly understood or used. He later enhanced his understanding of different cultures by studying foreign languages: German in college and in Germany, Spanish in college and in Mexico and French at the Sorbonne in Paris. In the Peace Corps, in a two-year rural development program in West Bengal, Dennis immersed himself in India’s culture and learned some Bengali. From the 1960s to the present, he has travelled throughout the world learning more about human behavior as a foreigner.

The author’s formal education consists of political science degrees: B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Houston’s Central Campus and M.A. from the University of Texas in Austin. In the fall of 1969, he began a 42-year academic career at San Jacinto College in Houston, Texas teaching survey American government to an ethnically and racially diverse student population from whom he gleaned many ideas for “Power”. Teaching college-level, survey American government classes also allowed him to draw on concepts from a variety of social science disciplines—political science, history, sociology, geography, psychology, philosophy, economics and anthropology.

Today, Dennis and his wife, Sharon, live in League City, Texas, a medium-size town halfway between Houston and Galveston. They have the advantages of living near a big city and a resort town, enjoying the sea air and ocean water of Galveston even when Dennis is the oldest person frolicking in the waves. Their two children and eight grandchildren live nearby offering the author a second opportunity to observe human behavior through a child’s eyes.