The Land I Live

New York: Random House. Very Good+ in Very Good dj. (c.1943). First Edition. Hardcover. [some shelfwear to bottom edges of covers, otherwise a good sound copy with minimal wear, one-time owner's signature at top of front endpaper; the jacket is browned and the spine and along the inner edges, and has some very shallow chipping at the spine ends, but still presents very well in new mylar]. The author's fourth published novel (at least under the Longstreet name; he used several others), and his stab at a big, fat, "important" political novel, about "an upstanding young American who, at the book's close [spoiler alert!], is named for president of (truncated) the United States by such a wave of popular acclaim as clinched the Republican nomination for Mr. Willkie in 1940." (An odd sort of link to make, given that Willkie was pretty soundly defeated by FDR in that election.) In other words, it's "All the King's Men" with a good guy, instead of a scoundrel, at its center. (One of the influential characters in the protagonist's rise is a "Farley-esque political manipulator" by the name of Ned Wonderly, which makes one wonder if Longstreet had seen THE MALTESE FALCON, with Mary Astor as the conniving "Miss Wonderly.") The novel is a sweeping affair, all right, encompassing both World Wars, the Prohibition Era, and the Great Depression, and it's big, too, at 434 pages. As far as its being important, though -- well, it wasn't considered important enough by Gordon Milne for inclusion in his 1966 study "The American Political Novel," and Hanna (2233) didn't even acknowledge its manifest political element, describing it only as a "panoramic view of life in an American steel city from World War I to World War II." ****NOTE that additional postage charges will be assessed for international shipping of this thick and heavy book; if this concerns you, please contact us for a shipping quote before placing your order. As always at ReadInk, domestic Media Mail shipping is free.**** . (Inventory #: 29723)