This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. By Mike Lee Herald staff writer Roger Burke is trying to catch a bit of literary lightning. With a newly published 301-page novel and a fledgling library opened in the Czech Republic, the Kennewick man hopes luck will swing to the side of a unique cultural literacy effort he calls Project Pilsen. Burke likens his four-year push to soldiers establishing a foothold on an enemy beach. We can indeed win this war.
War is an apt analogy, given the roots of Project Pilsen.
Burke, a Vietnam veteran, says he's building a beacon of hope and a portal to the West for a country that suffered long from the Cold War and Nazi occupation. In the summer of 1997, Burke sought help to move his book collection to Pilsen, a town of 180,000 best known for Pilsner beer. The Boeing Co. flew the tomes to Europe in January - a big break for Burke and his band of supporters that has stretched across the country ever since he did a nationwide tour to promote the library in 1997. In April, Burke opened a one-room library in a private Pilsen school. He calls it American House.