I just finished my third novel by Ward Just, and like RODIN'S DEBUTANTE, I really enjoyed it though it was quite different, taking place in Washington, DC, from the 1920's up to the 1990's. If you want a book about Washington, it's politics, especially the behind the scenes maneuverings, then this is the perfect book for you, like EXILES IN THE GARDEN. It follows the fortunes of the Behl family, from the patriarch Adolph, a senator and failed Vice Presidential candidate, to his son Axel, WWII veteran and Washington insider, and the grandson, Alex, at first an outsider, but gradually he too is drawn to Washington and ends being the consummate insider, like his father, intimate with Presidents, Senators, Prime Ministers, and the wealthy, able to fix almost any problem because of their experience, knowledge of all the secrets, and understanding of how things work, that the true power is behind the scenes, not with the Visibles, who everyone writes about. We mostly follow the lives of the father Axel, his almost career ending wound from the war, his marriage, his rise, and the son, who struggles to differentiate himself from the father but ends up becoming the son. The texts insights in to Washington are incisive, the story full of twists and turns, but it rings true, authentic, making you both dislike and admire those who give their lives to something larger than themselves, the ideal of the US, flawed and corrupt and pecuniary as it may be. These are men who enjoy their power and wealth though they seem to seek nor enjoy neither.
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