The Silver Maple Conspiracy is a very personal, sensual story of a man, born to the mid-20th century, and his startling, mysterious relationship with nature. This relationship serves as a vehicle for deep introspection into the plight of humankind and the planet it inhabits in the early 21st century.The story will take you from the "free-love" era in the streets of New York City during the War in Vietnam , the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival and the first Earth Day, to the back-to-the-land movement in the Pacific Northwest and finally to the Great Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina in the first decade after the millennium. It is a chronicle of the physical changes witnessed in this time-span as well as the evolution in consciousness that has subtly over-taken our species during the past half century. It is both a leap forward suggesting a new destiny and a re-connection to the ancient past.Although the scenery changes as time progresses, the most fascinating aspect of the story is the inner journey experienced by the main protagonist, Allen Goldstein. We witness his metamorphosis from a secure and stable childhood in the 1950s and early 60s, to a state of confusion, rejection, searching and wandering, back to a life of acceptance and normality. Or, so he thinks.