About
Jack Ryan
Jack Ryan is a storyteller at heart, writing to entertain, enlighten, and engage. For him, every book is a performance-designed to grip readers from the first page and carry them through a journey of thought, emotion, and discovery.
His work blends history, philosophy, and human experience into a narrative that invites readers to question, reflect, and step into another’s shoes. The author is a former US Marine and post-secondary educator turned novelist.
He holds several advanced degrees related to the study of the humanities and has published several articles and coauthored academic anthologies. These scholarly pursuits have afforded him the opportunity to travel to more than thirteen different countries. His historical interests include World War I, the Cold War, and the counterculture of the 1960s. He lives in Denton, Texas.
Blame It on Socrates Asks the Questions That Matter
Blame It on Socrates may take place over one chaotic semester at a quiet Midwestern college, but don’t let the setting fool you—this novel isn’t just about lecture halls and faculty meetings. It’s about the messy collision of past and present, of memory and morality, and of one professor’s attempt to make sense of it all… with a little help from a campus handyman, a dying revolutionary, and a dog who refuses to stop digging (literally and figuratively).
At its heart, this is a story about questions. The kind that don’t come with easy answers. The kind that get you into trouble. The kind the real Socrates might’ve asked, had he lived long enough to chase a mail truck.
As the world around us continues to wrestle with issues of free speech, civil disobedience, truth, and historical reckoning, Blame It on Socrates becomes more than a character study—it becomes a mirror. A reminder that history isn’t just something behind us. It’s alive. It’s flawed. And it’s ours to confront.
“This book is about more than one professor’s reckoning with the past,” says author Jack Ryan. “It’s about all of us—how we inherit history, how we engage with it, and how we must constantly challenge what we think we know if we ever hope to speak meaningfully on the issues that shape our world.”
Because sometimes, it takes a philosophy class, a defiant professor, and a neurotic dog with a taste for mail to remind us that protest doesn’t always start with a megaphone. Sometimes, it starts with a story. One that dares to ask the questions we’ve stopped asking—and maybe, just maybe, teaches us how to start again.
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