Richard Bausch's new novel is a comedy of innocence that is by turns funny and moving, gently nostalgic and profound. Set in 1964, the year after JFK's assassination, the story turns on young Walter Marshall, a devout, idealistic, amiable nineteen-year-old who lives at home with his mother and attends radio broadcasting school at night. Like many young men of the time, Walter has been stirred by the example of the recently martyred president, and has decided upon a life in politics. In fact, he has set his sights on the White House. There only remain the roughly twenty years of living to do before he can take up the torch.And Walter has some important lessons to learn, several of them involving women...The story of this sheltered young man's very-much-less-than-suave fumbling toward manhood unfolds against the backdrop of powerful descriptions of a country in the midst of great change. Read Less