Roscoe - Hardcover

Kennedy's splendid novel on American state politics is set in the place he knows best: his home town of Albany, capital of New York State. This clever period piece, circa 1945 and earlier, shows so clearly how the roots of America's post-war Democratic dream were tainted long before that other Kennedy, John F, and his brothers appeared. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author has such a sharp eye for irony and human fallibility that his novel is a droll delight. Roscoe is the seventh in his Albany cycle and it matters not if you haven't read such previous titles as Ironweed, as the vicarious ride through scandalous private lives is worth every cent. Roscoe is the name of the rapscallion lawyer in the wealthy inner circle who presides as fixer of every mess.

From the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of IRONWEED and LEGS, ROSCOE is a comic journey into the dark heart of America's postwar democratic dream. It's V-J Day, World War II is finally over, and Roscoe is quitting politics after twenty-six years as chief brainstruster of Albany's notorious Democratic machine. The suave, brilliant, unscrupulous Falstaffian wants to hang up his white double-breasted Palm Beach suit and drift into retirement. But how will he relax his hold on the lid without the political pot boiling over, scalding his beloved and her family? Armed with the politician's most powerful credo - 'Righteousness doesn't stand a chance against the imagination' - Roscoe fights his final political battles. Every step forward leads Roscoe into the past - to the early loss of his true love, to his own particular heroics in World War I, the takeover of City Hall and the methodical assassination of the gangster Jack 'Legs' Diamond. ROSCOE is a comic masterpiece from one of America's most revered novelists.