Kirjahaku

It's 1950s Washington, D.C.: a world of bare-knuckled ideology and secret dossiers, dominated by personalities like Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and Joe McCarthy. Enter Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate and devout Catholic eager to join the crusade against Communism. An encounter with a handsome State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leads to Tim's first job and, after Fuller's advances, his first love affair. As McCarthy mounts a desperate bid for power and internal investigations focus on "sexual subversives" in the government, Tim and Fuller find it ever more dangerous to navigate their double lives. Moving between the diplomatic world of Foggy Bottom and NATO's front line in Europe, Fellow Travelers is a searing historical novel infused with political drama, unexpected humor, and genuine heartbreak.

A New York Times Notable BookA Washington Post Notable BookA St. Louis Post-Dispatch Best Book of 2012A 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction FinalistFrom one of our most esteemed historical novelists, a remarkable retelling of the Watergate scandal, as seen through a kaleidoscope of its colorful perpetrators and investigators. For all the monumental documentation that Watergate generated--uncountable volumes of committee records, court transcripts, and memoirs--it falls at last to a novelist reconstruct some of the scandal's greatest mysteries (who did erase those eighteen-and-a-half minutes of tape?) and to see this gaudy American catastrophe in its human entirety. In Watergate, Thomas Mallon conveys the drama and high comedy of the Nixon presidency through the urgent perspectives of seven characters we only thought we knew before now. Mallon achieves with Watergate a scope and historical intimacy that surpasses even what he attained in his previous novels, and turns a "third-rate burglary" into a tumultuous, first-rate entertainment.

A delightful investigation of the art of letter writing, Yours Ever explores masterpieces dispatched through the ages by messenger, postal service, and BlackBerry. Here are Madame de Sevigne s devastatingly sharp reports from the French court, F. Scott Fitzgerald s tormented advice to his young daughter, the casually brilliant musings of Flannery O Connor, the lustful boastings of Lord Byron, and the prison cries of Sacco and Vanzetti, all accompanied by Thomas Mallon s own insightful commentary. From battlefield confessions to suicide notes, fan letters to hate mail, Yours Ever is an exuberant reintroduction to a vast and entertaining literature a book that will help to revive, in the digital age, this glorious lost art."

On the evening of Good Friday, 1865, Henry Rathbone and Clara Harris joined the Lincolns in the Presidential box at Ford's Theater, becoming eyewitnesses to one of the great tragedies of American history. In this riveting novel, Thomas Mallon re-creates the unusual love story of this young engaged couple whose fateful encounter with history profoundly affects the remainder of their lives. Lincoln's assassination is only one part of the remarkable life they share, a dramatic tale of passion, scandal, heroism, murder, and madness, all based on Mallon's deep research into the fascinating history of the Rathbone and Harris families. Henry and Clara not only tells the astonishing story of its title figures; it also illuminates the culture of nineteenth-century Victorian America: a rigid society barely concealing the suppressed impulses and undercurrents that only grew stronger as the century progressed.

A masterful retelling of a legend and famous headline of modern American history Harry Truman s upset victory over Thomas E. Dewey in the 1948 presidential election. Set in Dewey s hometown of Owosso, Michigan, this is the captivating story of a local love triangle that mirrors the national election contest. As the voters must decide between the candidates, so must Anne Macmurray choose between two suitors: an ardent United Auto Workers organizer and his polar opposite, a wealthy young Republican lawyer who s running for the state senate. Weaving a tapestry of small-town secrets, the people of Owosso ready themselves for the fame that is bound to shower down upon them after Dewey s sure thing victory. But as the novel and history move toward election night, we watch the townspeople, along with Anne and her suitors, have their fates rearranged in a climax filled with suspense, chagrin and unexpected joy."

Through the curious life of Dick Kallman--a real-life celebrity striver, poisonously charming actor, and eventual murder victim--the unforgiving worlds of postwar showbiz and down-low gay sexuality are thrown into stark relief in this "page-turning blast" (James Ellroy, author of Widespread Panic) "Engrossing... A] keen portrait of 1980s New York...a pensive, often gorgeous depiction of...gay life in Manhattan before Stonewall and life on the cusp of the AIDS epidemic." --The Washington Post Dick Kallman was an up-and-coming actor in the fifties and sixties--until he wasn't. A costar on Broadway, a member of Lucille Ball's historic Desilu workshop, and finally a primetime TV actor, Dick had hustled to get his big break. But just as soon as his star began to rise, his roles began to dry up and he faded from the spotlight, his name out of tabloids and newspapers until his sensational murder in 1980. Through the eyes of his occasional pianist and longtime acquaintance Matt Liannetto, a tenderhearted but wry observer often on the fringes of Broadway's big moments, Kallman's life and death come into appallingly sharp focus. The actor's yearslong, unrequited love for a fellow performer brings out a competitive, vindictive edge in him. Whenever a new door opens, Kallman rushes unwittingly to close it. Even as he walks over other people, he can never get out of his own way. As Matt pores over the life of this handsome could-have-been, Up With the Sun re-creates the brassy, sometimes brutal world that shaped Kallman, capturing his collisions with not only Lucille Ball, but an array of stars from Sophie Tucker to Judy Garland and Johnny Carson. Part crime story, part showbiz history, and part love story, this is a crackling novel about personal demons and dangerously suppressed passions that spans thirty years of gay life--the whole tumultuous era from the Kinsey Report through Stonewall and, finally, AIDS.

A literary tour through the notable diaries of history, giving us a window into the private lives of the famous and infamous, with a new introduction by the author Before the age of social media, chronicling one's life was a private matter. In this witty and wide-ranging exploration of the art and history of diary writing, Thomas Mallon allows us to take a rare peek at the personal journals of storied individuals. The diaries bring to life the neuroses, artistic practices, and preoccupations of their keepers. Virginia Woolf casts her sharp eye on friends and acquaintances. Samuel Pepys chronicles political life in Restoration England. Sylvia Plath's notebooks are filled with images she will turn into poems. F. Scott Fitzgerald records overheard conversation while Leonardo da Vinci scribbles down his dreams. Ana s Nin treats her diary as a tell-all, reflecting on love, sex, and death across several volumes and decades. In A Book of One's Own, Mallon is a sympathetic, entertaining, and insightful guide, transporting us across eras and continents with infectious joie de vivre. Here is a profound and compelling case for the diary as the quintessential literary art form as an act of defiance against being forgotten, and a stab at immortality.

From the beloved author of Fellow Travelers and the "master of the historical novel" (Newsweek), a soulful, engrossing novel about a space-obsessed grade-schooler who skips class to follow the flight of the Aurora 7 mission. This acclaimed novel vividly tells the story of a single day in May--May 24, 1962. While astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the earth in his Aurora 7 capsule, the lives of a host of characters seem interwoven on the ground below--everyone from a convicted killer to a famous novelist, a New York cabdriver, a conflicted priest, and a British housewife preparing to give birth to a thalidomide-stricken baby. Above all, Aurora 7 tells the story of Gregory Noonan, a spooky suburban fifth-grader obsessed with the space program. The fate of Gregory and his family will prove mysteriously linked to the astronaut's when the boy flees school to watch the perilous climax of Carpenter's mission on the giant TV monitors in Grand Central Terminal. With cameos by Walter Cronkite, John F. Kennedy, and Lee Harvey Oswald, Aurora 7 is a dazzling, "gift-wrapped time capsule" (New Yorker) of a novel.

From the renowned novelist and critic, an exquisite collection of journal entries from the 1980s and '90s, tracking a young, gay author's literary coming-of-age in New York during the AIDS crisis In 1983, Thomas Mallon was still unknown. A literature professor at Vassar College, he spent his days traveling from Manhattan to campus, reviewing books to make ends meet and searching the city for his own purpose and fulfillment. The AIDS epidemic was beginning to surge in New York City, the ever-bustling epicenter of literary culture and gay life, alive with parties, art, and sex. Though he didn't know it, everything would soon change for Mallon. Riding the success of his debut, A Book of One's Own, he became a fixture within the city's literary scene, crossing paths with cultural giants and becoming an editor at GQ. He captured it all in his daily journals. But in some ways it was the worst possible time for a gay coming-of-age in the city. One of his lovers succumbed to AIDS, and the illness of others was both a heartbreaking reality and a constant reminder of his own exposure. Tracing his own life day by day, Mallon evokes all that those years encompassed: the hookups, intensifying politics, personal tragedies, as well as his own blossoming success and eventual romantic happiness. The Very Heart of It is a brilliant and bewitching look into the daily life of one of our most important literary figures, and a keepsake from a bygone era.

It's the spring of 1877 in Washington, D.C., and at the U.S. Naval Observatory, great changes are afoot: historical, romantic, and scientific. When the brilliant Cynthia May--a Civil War widow whose beauty has been shadowed by worry and poverty--starts work as a human "computer" at the Observatory, astronomer Hugh Allison has found just the partner he needs for a radiant, half-crazed scheme which will make him live forever in the annals of science and space. But first the two scientists must overcome the very earthly obstacles presented by powerful Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York; and a fraudulent astrologer who just might know their future. Masterfully combining historical detail and startling invention, bringing Reconstruction-era Washington to life along with the ambitions of the burgeoning American nation, acclaimed writer Thomas Mallon gives us a galvanizing story of earthly heartbreak and other-worldly triumph.

A New York Times Notable Book A Washington Post Notable Book One of the Best Books of the Year: San Francisco Chronicle, The Daily Beast, The Miami Herald, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Before there was Reagan the conservative icon, there was Reagan the president: genial, unknowable, faced with doubters, scandals, and the final throes of the Cold War. In this extraordinary novel, Thomas Mallon takes us to the tense, high-stakes months in 1986 when--with the Iran-Contra affair, the AIDS epidemic, and the Reykjavik summit with Gorbachev--Reagan and those around him were shaping history. We see Nancy Reagan--brooding, protective, consulting her astrologist at every turn. We see the young Christopher Hitchens--his incisive, acerbic voice lending a powerful counterpoint to events as they unfold. And we see Reagan himself: apparently warm but in fact distant and mercurial, by turns seeming to know more than he lets on and let on more than he knows. Written with impeccable language and savage wit, Finale is historical fiction of the highest order, brilliantly rendering the human drama behind these famous--and familiar--faces.

A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - Through the curious life of Dick Kallman--a real-life celebrity striver, poisonously charming actor, and eventual murder victim--the unforgiving worlds of postwar showbiz and down-low gay sexuality are thrown into stark relief in this "page-turning blast" (James Ellroy, author of Widespread Panic) "Engrossing... A] keen portrait of 1980s New York...a pensive, often gorgeous depiction of...gay life in Manhattan before Stonewall and life on the cusp of the AIDS epidemic." --The Washington Post Dick Kallman was an up-and-coming actor in the fifties and sixties--until he wasn't. A costar on Broadway, a member of Lucille Ball's historic Desilu workshop, and finally a primetime TV actor, Dick had hustled to get his big break. But just as soon as his star began to rise, his roles began to dry up and he faded from the spotlight, his name out of tabloids and newspapers until his sensational murder in 1980. Through the eyes of his occasional pianist and longtime acquaintance Matt Liannetto, a tenderhearted but wry observer often on the fringes of Broadway's big moments, Kallman's life and death come into appallingly sharp focus. The actor's yearslong, unrequited love for a fellow performer brings out a competitive, vindictive edge in him. Whenever a new door opens, Kallman rushes unwittingly to close it. Even as he walks over other people, he can never get out of his own way. As Matt pores over the life of this handsome could-have-been, Up With the Sun re-creates the brassy, sometimes brutal world that shaped Kallman, capturing his collisions with not only Lucille Ball, but an array of stars from Sophie Tucker to Judy Garland and Johnny Carson. Part crime story, part showbiz history, and part love story, this is a crackling novel about personal demons and dangerously suppressed passions that spans thirty years of gay life--the whole tumultuous era from the Kinsey Report through Stonewall and, finally, AIDS.

From the author of Henry and Clara, a dazzling, hilarious novel that captures the heart and soul of New York in the Jazz Age. Bandbox is a hugely successful magazine, a glamorous monthly cocktail of 1920s obsessions from the stock market to radio to gangland murder. Edited by the bombastic Jehoshaphat "Joe" Harris, the magazine has a masthead that includes, among many others, a grisly, alliterative crime writer; a shy but murderously determined copyboy; and a burned-out vaudeville correspondent who's lovesick for his loyal, dewy assistant. As the novel opens, the defection of Harris's most ambitious prot g has plunged Bandbox into a death struggle with a new competitor on the newsstand. But there's more to come: a sabotaged fiction contest, the NYPD vice squad, a subscriber's kidnapping, and a film-actress cover subject who makes the heroines of Fosse's Chicago look like the girls next door. While Harris and his magazine careen from comic crisis to make-or-break calamity, the novel races from skyscraper to speakeasy, hops a luxury train to Hollywood, and crashes a buttoned-down dinner with Calvin Coolidge. Thomas Mallon has given us a madcap and poignant book that brilliantly portrays the gaudiest American decade of them all.

Nearly forty years have passed since Ruth Hyde Paine, a Quaker housewife in suburban Dallas, offered shelter and assistance to a young man named Lee Harvey Oswald and his Russian wife, Marina. For nine months in 1963, Mrs. Paine was so deeply involved in the Oswalds' lives that she eventually became one of the Warren Commission's most important witnesses. Mrs. Paine's Garage is the tragic story of a well-intentioned woman who found Oswald the job that put him six floors above Dealey Plaza--into which, on November 22, he fired a rifle he'd kept hidden inside Mrs. Paine's house. But this is also a tale of survival and resiliency: the story of a devout, open-hearted woman who weathered a whirlwind of investigation, suspicion, and betrayal, and who refused to allow her enmeshment in the calamity of that November to crush her own life. Thomas Mallon gives us a disturbing account of generosity and secrets, of suppressed memories and tragic might-have-beens, of coincidences more eerie than conspiracy theory. His book is unlike any other work that has been published on the murder of President Kennedy.