Gwen McLin is writer with a finely tuned sense of history, literature, and music. When she co-authored her latest book with country music superstar Lee Greenwood, she was able to apply her talents to creating a work that tells the story of a contemporary hero. More than that, she reaches into the past four decades of American culture with poignant reverence.
Writing about musicians is not uncharted territory for McLin Her doctoral dissertation from the University of Florida is entitled “An Interpretive Analysis of the Poetry of Paul Simon.” It is her analytical approach to her study of Greenwood's music and how it reflects the changing sentiments of a country that make God Bless the U.S.A. a captivating read.
McLin is a resident of Florida and has taught history at the high school level as well as literature, composition, and journalism at the college level. A former chairman of the Florida Endowment for the Humanities, she was a lecturer for the Florida Teachers of English and moderator for the Florida Teachers of English. She is co-organizer and past president of the Leesburg Child Development Center for underpriviledged preschoolers.
She has always had a strong interest in political matters. In 1971, she embarked on a personal mission to track down information on American POWs and MIAs from the North Vietnamese government. More recently, McLin has successfully campaigned on behalf of Florida's governor Lawton Chiles and senator Bob Graham.
For more than a decade, Gwen McLin has been a personal friend of Lee Greenwood. Since first meeting him in 1981, she has seen the rise of his career from the vantage point of being a behind-the-scenes observer.