Tom Wolfe — A Man In Full

Jonathan Cape 1998 Hardback, 756pp. The setting is Atlanta, Georgia - a racially mixed late-century boomtown full of fresh wealth, avid speculators, and wily politicians. The protagonist is Charles Croker, once a college football star, now a late-middle-aged Atlanta conglomerate king whose outsize ego have at last hit up against reality. Charlie has a 29,000-acre quail-shooting plantation, a young and demanding second wife - and a half-empty office complex with a staggering load of debt. Meanwhile, Conrad Hensley, idealistic young father of two, is laid off from his job the the Croker Global Foods warehouse near Oakland and finds himself spiralling into the lower depths of the Americal legal system. And back in Atlanta, when Georgia Tech running back Fareek 'the Cannon' Fanon - a homegrown product of the city's slums, is accused of date-raping the daughter of a pillar of the white establishment, upscale black lawyer Roger White II is asked to represent Fanon and help keep the city's delicate racial balance from blowing sky-high. Heavy; DJ; Owner's Name inside. (ISBN: 9780224030366). Very Good.