'A Multitude of Hope' Mixes Optimism With No-Nonsense Pragmatism

STAMFORD, CT--(Marketwire - Jun 6, 2012) - America cannot go back to what it was before the Great Recession started in 2008 -- and that's a good thing, says Peter Weddle, former CEO of Job Bank USA, Inc., and author of "A Multitude of Hope: A Novel About Rediscovering the American Dream" (www.AMultitudeofHope.com).

Many of today's laid-off professionals mourn yesterday's multi-decade careers, financial security, home equity and retirement savings, while others are going back to college or reinventing themselves in some other way. Weddle's novel is about this dichotomy, and the America that is known for its forward thinking.

"Many laid-off professionals see this as a time of opportunity -- a chance to pursue the work for which they have a special talent," Weddle says. "That's how our country will recapture its mojo."

The book follows three out-of-work Baby Boomers and their search for employment. One is contacted by a secret online group of activists called Walden 4G, whose mission is to hack vulture capitalists and destroy their hold on America's workplace.

The mission harkens back to Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" and echoes his call for civil disobedience, with the goal of recapturing the potential of America's workers. Walden 4G confronts each professional with a drastic choice: Either accept a familiar but diminished future or re-imagine your value and reclaim the American Dream.

"We're entering a new era and the break with the past is as profound and permanent as the shift from an agrarian to an industrial society in the late 19^th century," Weddle says. "As a result, there won't be a recovery, but there will be plenty of discovery, because this new era has more opportunity than the industrial era ever did."

Americans are individually prone to innovation and creativity, and collectively, the most diverse pool of workers in the world, Weddle says. A national human resources expert, he says if people bring that talent to work with them, America will remain the world's economic leader.

About Peter Weddle

Peter Weddle is the CEO of the International Association of Employment Web Sites, a trade organization. He has written or edited more than two dozen non-fiction books regarding careers and employment; "A Multitude of Hope" is his first work of fiction. Weddle is the founder and former CEO of Job Bank USA, Inc., one of the largest electronic employment services companies in the United States.