What it basically comes down to is that previous generations were a lot more self-reliant than we are. That's why America has never been more vulnerable than it is today.

While most people nowadays tend to be obsessed with everything "new" - with technology, smartphones, social media, and cars that drive themselves - I was always fascinated by what I think was a happier, wiser and healthier America: a country of more independent people, who held down jobs and could care for their families, who took responsibility for themselves and were not looking for a handout, who were proud of being American, and who dreamed of building a better country.

Progress made since their time has brought us so many good things, but in many ways, things used to be much better. We are smarter-but we're not wiser. We own more stuff-but it's stuff we don't really need. And we live longer lives-but we're not healthier.

The saddest thing is that right now we're sitting on the edge of oblivion. We no longer know our forefathers' skills, nor do we remember how to survive without electricity, supermarkets or pharmacies.

The truth is we have never been more disconnected from life, from the world, from the soil, from the trees, and from our own souls.

And we are the last generation that can truly do something about it. This is why I put together my first book The Lost Ways: to save our forefathers' survival skills and I co-authored The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies: to save the most powerful remedies that we've lost to history. I had to sift through mountains of information, and I don't think I could have done any of it without the help of the notes made by my late grandfather, who was the most gifted natural healers I've ever known.

With "The Home Doctor: Practical Medicine for Every Household" I've tried to make the connection between the old ways of healing which our forefathers used and more modern techniques developed when doctors and medicines became scarce.

My ultimate goal with this guide is to put a "home doc", in every household. Home docs are self-reliant people that know how to take care of themselves and their communities when the situation calls for it.

I hope that today, you will become one too.

God Bless!

Claude