The Whole Elephant: Unlocking Solutions to the Chaos in My Life and Yours

By Jo Vanderkloot and Judy Kirmmse

She never understood what was at work inside her wealthy family until she went to work in one of the most dangerous places in America: the 1980s South Bronx. There she found the chaos of her family on a massive scale - and she understood it was coming for all of us. Jo Vanderkloot is the daughter of Bill Levitt, who famously transformed American suburbs at the end of WWII to house returning soldiers and their growing families. His success brought the trappings of wealth: huge estates, private yachts and planes, boarding schools, and fancy parties. She married at home under a vast canopy of tiny rosebuds. But something was underneath all the beauty money could buy; inner decay was eroding her family. She didn't yet know why, but she had to find out the source of early death and loss. It seemed to be encoded in their DNA. Jo got to work. She earned her degree in clinical social work in hopes of unlocking the mystery. The mystery called her deeper, and soon she did the one thing her family could not understand ever; she went to work in the impoverished South Bronx. There, failing system banged against failing system. Fires gutted buildings, cars sat abandoned, trash piled up. She studied the patterns until she understood the chaos was spreading and there was only one way to slow it down - fall back, go small, re-engage. She realized you must look at The Whole Elephant.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0CWJB8GZX
• ISBN13: 9798882674440
• Release Date: February 2024
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 312 Pages
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.7" x 5.5"