FINDING MY FATHER by Rod McKuen, 1976, published by Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, Inc. and Cheval Books, New York.

"Every day of every year I've thought about my father, wondered if he were tall or short, intelligent or a man of common sense, beautiful to look at or plain, a criminal or a barrister, a teach or a bum." -- from FINDING MY FATHER, One Man's Search for Identity.

Rod McKuen is a poet, song writer and performer. His memoir is a well-written, highly detailed account of his search for his father, most of it through investigators that he hired. If someone were looking for their father even without an investigator, the great value of this book is the thorough description of the many many dead ends at which McKuen and his hired searchers arrived. Asking friends of friends of one's mother, even if she has passed away, does sometimes yield a successful connection.