By James Banakis

May 15^th, 2026

The first book in my memory was a children’s adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey.  My mother would read us chapters as bedtime stories. My favorite was the story of Odysseus and the Cyclopes. Polyphemus, the most terrifying of the monsters asked Oydsseus his name after snacking on a few of his men. “Nobody,” answered Odysseus, and then poked out his eye, blinding the singled eye monster. When his fellow Cyclopes wanted to know who did this to him, he screamed,” Nobody.” So, they figured it was self-inflicted and left. Odysseus and the remainder of his men were able to escape.  I thought Odysseus was clever, brave, and funny.

As a result, The Odyssey became the most influential story shaping my early outlook on life. The story begins as a noble crusade, that develops into a heroic adventure, life and death struggles and finally the thing we all want eventually, to go home. To that place where we are loved. The place we ache for whenever we roam.

As I age, friends and books play an increasingly significant role in my personal modest odyssey. It’s comforting to know that there is very little new in the human experience that you can’t find in a book or that a friend hasn’t encountered. To paraphrase Harry Truman, “The only thing new is the history you haven’t yet studied.”

I’ve always gotten the most enjoyment reading when I know the author. It’s why we on this platform enjoy reading John Kass, a writer who shares his life experiences seamlessly and courageously with his readers.

I usually get to know authors by reading a variety of their works and attending book signings and promotions. The ideal way though is to read books written by your real-life friends. One of my valued friends who I’ve always thought of as a modern-day renaissance man is Mike

Bakalis. I’ve enjoyed his books because like with John Kass, we share a friendship, and common experiences.  Mike is a historian, an educator, a politician, who to me has been on a constant restless quest for excellence. I’m always amused when he finds some sermons, conversations, and speeches, he’s listened to be underwhelming, unsatisfactory, and flaccid. Bakalis, the good professor, admires those who can deliver the message relevant, concise, and targeted to the audience. I’m sure that’s why he chose Saint Paul as the focus of his latest book.

A few years ago, I asked him what he was working on.  He said he was writing about the Apostle Paul on what he characterized as the world’s first marketing campaign. I was intrigued because I always equated Paul’s journey as similar to The Odyssey. Both took place in the same magical part of the world. Both involved shipwrecks, painful imprisonments and escapes.

Last week Mike called and said his book, The First Marketing Campaign, had been published and he wanted to give me a copy. I was thrilled. We met for coffee on a rainy morning, and he gave me a personal overview.  His book has Paul meeting with modern day marketing experts coaching him on how to spread his message. They give Paul the seven “P’s” a crash course in how to sell something. They advise he begin by getting to know and understand people you are trying to convince so well that your product sells itself. Eventually to not push people to where you want them to be, but to meet them where they are.

Paul is so relatable to us because we can identify with his very human emotions through his astonishing writing. At times his message is angry, then instructional, and unexpectedly sometimes loving. His writing style is very contemporary and familiar.  He defines love masterfully,

“Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy anyone or anything. Love never boasts and it’s never proud. Love is not rude, it’s not self-serving, self-absorbed or conceited. Love is not easily provoked to anger. It doesn’t hold grudges nor does it keep records of who was right and who was wrong. Love does not consult with evil instead it rejoices in the truth. Love always protects. Love always trusts. Love always hopes.

Love always perseveres. And love never fails.”

My second favorite excerpt of Paul’s writing is,

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

It’s an idea that transcends generations. Paul was very much in touch with human sentiments. He’s relatable to us all in every portion of our lives despite writing 2,000 years ago.

As I sipped my latte, Mike made his case explaining what a difficult project Paul was embarking on, selling a new religion to Gentiles who for centuries believed in multiple gods. People who had no concept of sin, or marital fidelity.  Trying to sell his ideas to fellow Jews proved to be even more difficult as most of them viewed him as a “crackpot.” Mike seemed to be constantly astounded with the obstacles Paul faced. Most amazing perhaps was that he began as persecutor of those who followed the recently resurrected Jesus. Then after an encounter on the road to Damascus risked everything, promoting the new religion of Christianity, traveling thousands of miles by foot and by sea for the remainder of his obsessively driven life.

Like most successful promoters, Paul had many failures in life, yet he persisted. Paul’s message preceded printing presses and even the four Gospels. He was not a physically attractive man nor was he a particularly effective speaker, yet his message resonated.

Bakalis’ very present-day view of Paul as the world’s first advertising marketer, is what sets this book apart.  Paul at the conclusion of his work shortly before his death prophetically said,

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

There is something very Madison Avenue about this sentence. It’s a peaceful, modest, reflection of a life lived with purpose. Most astonishingly, Paul foresees his own demise. His final message serves as a timeless inspiration for followers to preserver in their own spiritual battles.

You don’t need to be a person of faith to appreciate this book.  In many ways, Paul is not unlike Steve Jobs selling the iPhone. Bakalis’ book is a creative primer on advertising before advertising.

A few years back, friends said I was going to like “Mad Men,” a show about Madison Avenue in the 1950’s and 60’s. I’ve always avoided bingeable TV shows. After putting it off for several months, I settled in to watch it. I must admit it captivated me. It was lovingly constructed by people who really understood the era and music and seamlessly transported me back to that time.

My very favorite episode was one where Don Draper was presenting the Kodak slide projector, “The Carousal.” In it, Draper pitches the product by telling the story of his friend Teddy, a Greek merchant who told him the true meaning of the word, nostalgia. Teddy said that in Greek, nostalgia literally means pain from an old wound, and a retuning home. This scene had me stopping it and rewinding it several times as it affected me on so many levels. First, it reminded me how beautifully complex and specific the Greek language is. Secondly, it reinforced my own strong relationship with nostalgia. A longing born out of a connection to history, home, friends and family. Lastly, I was able to relate the show yet again to The Odyssey.

Displaying family slides of his children in a darkened room to his clients from Kodak, Draper ends his sales pitch by comparing the way the slide projector works to the way a child might play, going around and around, backward and forward, and finally returning home to a place where we are loved. This simple message of memory as a combination of love and pain enriches us all. There’s an old Greek saying,

“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and always returns home to find it.”

Going home, the place we all ache to return to is how this story, and all my favorite story’s end.

The First Marketing Campaign by Michael J Bakalis available on Amazon.

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Jimmy Banakis is a life-long restaurateur.  He was an honorary batboy for the White Sox in 1964. He attended Oak Park River Forest High School, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and Chicago-Kent Law School.  He claims the kitchen is the room he’s most comfortable in anywhere in the world. He published an extremely limited-edition family cookbook. He’s a father and grandfather, and lives in Downers Grove Il.