But he did it outside the United States, and I think part of it has to do with the fact that the book dogged him and kind of followed him throughout his adult life. He traveled the world and really became an expert, a leading expert, in the field of work with kids with emotional needs. He himself started working with kids who had emotional problems, kids who suffered from ADD and ADHD, and he worked in schools around the world. He went to college and then became a teacher. I would say, you know, Bill sort of redeemed himself. On what Powell did with his life after writing the book But it does do something to explain how they got there. All of this is not to excuse what happened in writing the book as it, I think, doesn't excuse the acts of violence that young people who are taken advantage of or hurt go on to commit. There were people who could have been role models, teachers for example, who were abusive toward Bill, and he was bullied as a kid. I think Bill - like a number of kids who have gone on to commit acts of violence, usually males - was sort of let down by the adult world. On the source of Powell's anger when he was 19īill was an angry young man, and with reason.