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The Governor's Mansion is a candid, revealing novel about a family caught up in alien territory. Out of this struggle emerges a book richly original and rare in its intimate view of American politics. Leon becomes governor of Nevada during the 1960s. An able lawyer in his own right, he is a neophyte when it comes to dealing with the political ploys of the entrenched officeholders who dominate in Nevada. The two faces of Nevada, traditional cowboy country and glitzy Las Vegas where anything goes, make for striking contrast. The author portrays the Las Vegas of shocking mores, its hoodlums, hit men, and hookers with affectionate humor. Leon faces the crisis of his budding political career when he is caught between J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, bent on cleaning out the Mafia, and his own need to protect the autonomy of his native state. An unexpected ally appears when the only man rich enough to solve the governor's dilemma comes to Nevada - reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes. The Governor's Mansion neatly concludes the journey from Old World to New World that was begun in the first two books of Robert Laxalt's trilogy: The Basque Hotel and Child of the Holy Ghost.
The empty showmanship of U.S. political campaigns, the glitz of Las Vegas in the 1960s, the seamy alliance of the Mafia and top politicians and the aspirations of a tradition-bound immigrant family converge and collide in Basque-American novelist Laxalt's engrossing story. The concluding volume in a family saga begun in The Basque Hotel and continued in Child of the Holy Ghost, it follows down-to-earth lawyer Leon Indart in his successful run for the Nevada governorship on a conservative Republican ticket; his attempt to rid the state's gambling industry of mob infiltration; and his narrow defeat in a race for the U.S. Senate. Leon's younger brother Pete, a journalist who becomes his aide, narrates the story, providing a witty, devastating look at a political process rife with voter apathy and ignorance, patronage, favor-swapping, dirty tricks and slick packaging of candidates. The two brothers' foray into politics causes confusion and a sense of loss in their white-haired father, a sheepherder clinging to Basque ways, and their supportive, pampering mother. Laxalt spices the novel with cameos of Howard Hughes, J. Edgar Hoover, mobster Moe Dalitz and odds-maker Jimmy the Greek. His honest, clean prose is a pleasure to read. (Oct.)
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