The Gay Place Book

"The best novel about American politics in our time." --Willie Morris "There are two classic American political novels. One is All the King's Men. . . . the other is The Gay Place, a stunning , original, intensely human novel inspired by Lyndon Johnson. . . . It will be read a hundred years from now." --David Halberstam, New York Times Book Review "An American classic in which a Johnsonian figure named Arthur 'Goddam' Fenstemaker strides through the pages, large, earthy, intelligent, threatening, working it seemed more often on the side of the angels than against them." --Gore Vidal Set in Texas, The Gay Place consists of three interlocking novels, each with a different protagonist--a member of the state legislature, the state's junior senator, and the governor's press secretary. The governor himself, Arthur Fenstemaker, a master politician, infinitely canny and seductive, remains the dominant figure throughout. Billy Lee Brammer--who served on Lyndon Johnson's staff--gives us here "the excitement of a political carnival: the sideshows, the freaks, and the ghoulish comedy atmosphere" (Saturday Review). Originally published in 1961, The Gay Place is at once a cult classic and a major American novel.Read More