The Errors of Mankind

The Errors of Mankind: Mistaking the True Conditions for Our Well-Being is a 2025 Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal Finalist "given to the most thought-provoking books. These are books that either illuminate, progress, or redirect thought." It is an allegory about human nature, probing into the circumstances which gives rise to its evil side as well as its redemption.
​The main characters are: Will, a Vietnam veteran; Johann, a distant relative of Will's who is a German veteran of World War II; and Lena, an Auschwitz survivor. Will is still struggling to find purpose after losing his beliefs in Vietnam while Johann still expresses a strong belief in the discredited regime he once fought for. The two begin an uneasy collaboration to deconstruct their disastrous past and overcome their cultural and familial legacies but are ultimately led to redemption by Lena.
The novel progresses through four cycles of increasing self-awareness for each character as they interact with one another. Together, they reconcile their limited understanding of the world with the infinitude of the divine reason that created it.
The characters are fictional, but the historical events relayed are real; both provide the reader with a view of history and human nature that is frequently not explored.

Curt grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, where he acquired most of his beliefs as a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and a Church Youth Group Leader. He enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating from high school during the Vietnam conflict. During his three-year enlistment, he earned two meritorious promotions, traversed most of Southeast Asia and lost most of those beliefs.
He went to college to understand what happened to America and graduated summa cum laude from Moravian University, majoring in English and History with Honors. He had several poems and short stories published before he undertook a professional career that that led to partner in a management consulting firm where he practiced internationally and spoke extensively on the strategic use of information technology for the practice and management of legal services. He published numerous articles in leading law journals such as The American Lawyer and the New York Law Journal
Curt retired in 2017 to pursue his interests in religion, philosophy, and modern history. His debut novel, The Errors of Mankind: Mistaking the True Conditions for Our Well-Being, is an anti-war novel covering both World War II and Vietnam. It is not a war story, nor does it attempt to redeem either side in either conflict. It focuses on the key moral issues involved in each war's inception, prosecution, and aftermath; it also deals with the existential issues each character in the book must face as they make their pilgrimage through life.