1"A memorable and moving book about a man -- indeed, a family -- of Fritzgeraldian proportions -- a distinguished and gripping American saga". -- Todd Gitlin, Chicago Tribune

Through the prism of her father's life as a lawyer and well-known political activist, Patricia Bosworth sheds light on an important era in modern American history -- from the heady, hope-filled days of Roosevelt's New Deal to the dawn of the Cold War.

In the course of a remarkable career, Bartley Crum represented movie stars and labor leaders, advised presidents and presidential hopefuls, emerged as a key figure in the creation of Israel, and became a forceful voice for civil rights. But when his defense of the Hollywood Ten made him a target of the FBI's andcommunist hysteria, public pressures and personal demons brought his once-charmed life to a tragic end. Interweaving public and private vignettes, his daughter's memoir re-creates Crum's life and times with rare and moving honesty.

"Consider this beautiful, saddening book on a par with Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy....It is an extraordinary document...written with blood and tears". -- Carolyn See, The Washington Post Book World

"Extraordinary...as beautifully written as any memoir I have ever read". -- Charles Kaiser, The New York Observer