<![CDATA[Heyday: A Novel]]>

false <![CDATA[Heyday: A Novel]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170514458m/58558.jpg 58558 6 Heyday is a brilliantly imagined, wildly entertaining tale of America’s boisterous coming of age–a sweeping panorama of madcap rebellion and overnight fortunes, palaces and brothels, murder and revenge–as well as the story of a handful of unforgettable characters discovering the nature of freedom, loyalty, friendship, and true love. In the middle of the nineteenth century, modern life is being born: the mind-boggling marvels of photography, the telegraph, and railroads; a flood of show business spectacles and newspapers; rampant sex and drugs and drink (and moral crusades against all three); Wall Street awash with money; and giddy utopian visions everywhere. Then, during a single amazing month at the beginning of 1848, history lurches: America wins its war of manifest destiny against Mexico, gold is discovered in northern California, and revolutions sweep across Europe–sending one eager English gentleman off on an epic transatlantic adventure. . . . Amid the tumult, aristocratic Benjamin Knowles impulsively abandons the Old World to reinvent himself in New York, where he finds himself embraced by three restless young Americans: Timothy Skaggs, muckraking journalist, daguerreotypist, pleasure-seeker, stargazer; the fireman Duff Lucking, a sweet but dangerously damaged veteran of the Mexican War; and Duff’s dazzling sister Polly Lucking, a strong-minded, free thinking actress (and discreet part-time prostitute) with whom Ben falls hopelessly in love. Beckoned by the frontier, new beginnings, and the prospects of the California Gold Rush, all four set out on a transcontinental race west–relentlessly tracked, unbeknownst to them, by a cold-blooded killer bent on revenge. A fresh, impeccable portrait of an era startlingly reminiscent of our own times, Heyday is by turns tragic and funny and sublime, filled with bona fide heroes and lost souls, visionaries (Walt Whitman, Charles Darwin, Alexis de Tocqueville) and monsters, expanding horizons and narrow escapes. It is also an affecting story of four people passionately chasing their American dreams at a time when America herself was still being dreamed up–an enthralling, old-fashioned yarn interwoven with a bracingly modern novel of ideas. "In this utterly engaging novel, the author of Turn of the Century brings 19th-century America vividly to life . . . While this is a long book, it moves quickly, with historical detail that's involving but never a drag on the action; the characters are beautifully drawn. A terrific book; highly recommended." –Library Journal "Heyday is fuled by manic energy, fanatical research, and a wicked sense of humor.... It's a joyful, wild gallop through a joyful, wild time to be an American." -Vanity Fair 57027 6 3 2007 Heyday: A Novel total:402|5:55|4:152|3:127|2:45|1:23| 402 1377 807 143 2 3 false false Sat Jan 05 20:49:20 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 09 13:50:13 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 2 true false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 19 11:51:13 -0700 2007 Sun Dec 23 10:25:56 -0800 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:42:05 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:42:05 -0800 2009 Kurt Andersen is best known for his previous novel (the irreverent, postmillennial Turn of the Century), his role as cofounder and editor of the now-defunct Spy magazine, and as host of public radio's Studio 360. Heyday, Andersen's second novel, recalls the work of Gore Vidal, T. C. Boyle, Thomas Ma...

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The book takes place in that most revolutionary year, 1848, when the great houses of Europe shook and trembled, and in some cases fell--at least for...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 20 16:10:53 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 12 10:40:08 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Mar 04 08:16:12 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 16 07:49:12 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 15 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Aug 03 11:50:50 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 12:34:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue May 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 11:20:12 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 23:03:31 -0700 2009 driven to finish a book? We have a disease, you and I, possibly obsessive compulsive disorder, and as a fellow sufferer I mercifully suggest that you avoid this novel. The trouble is, the wri...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jun 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 10:14:12 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 05:45:11 -0700 2009
each and every character w...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Oct 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jan 22 08:12:41 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 08:18:16 -0800 2009 Heyday is part of a subgenre that I love – a giant “Victorian” novel (with slightly more independent women and much more sex and swearing than an actual Victoria novel – “Deadwood” Lite if you will.) A good third or so of the novel is set in New York in 1848-1849, and ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Jan 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Oct 08 08:41:49 -0700 2008 Sat Jan 17 06:43:37 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 26 19:46:18 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 26 19:46:18 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Apr 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Feb 21 19:16:25 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 21 19:16:41 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 15 12:36:54 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 15 12:54:07 -0800 2008 bad, and the characters are plausible. I was really into things for a one or two hun...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Feb 14 17:21:38 -0800 2008 Thu Apr 10 17:37:58 -0700 2008 Heyday is enviable. It's amazing how he constructs such realistic characters from deftly revealed snippets of their pasts without interrupting the flow of the present-time narration.

Interestingly, he fits concerns we think of as "modern"...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Feb 12 09:33:57 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 08 08:27:01 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 05:32:39 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 15:51:04 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 09 22:51:17 -0700 2008 Fri Jan 11 07:23:43 -0800 2008 Sat Aug 09 22:51:17 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 07 16:53:04 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 07 17:02:13 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Aug 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 07 19:02:08 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 13 12:38:29 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=58558