Richard Pennington, a walking, talking bundle of contradictions, characterizes the present tome as "part autobiography, part history book and part sociological treatise." In this, his 20th book, he covers a lot of ground. Born and raised in Dallas, a graduate of the University of Texas and a long-term expat in Daegu and Seoul, he titles his first three chapters "Dallas Days," "Austin Days" and "Korea Days." (The others are "Excursions," "More Autobiographica,"...