A Thing of State

by Allen Drury

Overview

From a Pulitzer Prize winner, “a believable worst-case scenario about the consequences of our failure to bring the Gulf War to a satisfactory end” (Publishers Weekly).
 
This classic political thriller by New York Times–bestselling author Allen Drury is as insightful and relevant today as when it was first published.

Secretary of State Raymond Cass Stanley struggles to help the US President avoid a potentially disastrous head-on collision with Sidi bin Sidi bin Sidi, President for Life of All the Peoples of Lolómé, a tiny Middle Eastern country. Sidi has recently acquired several nuclear weapons and threatens to deploy them against his even tinier neighbor, Lesser Lolómé, and the President is determined to take him down.

This clash among proud and defiant leaders, and the repercussions worldwide among US allies and enemies, forms a sophisticated and fascinating novel of present-day politics and international tensions.

No author has ever portrayed American and world politics with more vivid reality and understanding than Allen Drury.
 
“The plot resonates with recent events in the Middle East and with America's loss of will and increased vulnerability to atomic blackmail, a valid topic for a political novel.” —Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614754695
Publisher:	WordFire Press
Publication date:	07/06/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	361
Sales rank:	986,544
File size:	779 KB

About the Author

Allen Drury was a Washington correspondent for UPI, the Washington Star, and the New York Times.

Editorial Reviews

In his 13th novel about the inner machinations of Washington, Drury, whose Advise and Consent won a Pulitzer, conjurs up a believable worst-case scenario about the consequences of our failure to bring the Gulf War to a satisfactory end. By 1999, Sidi bin Sidi bin Sidi, the power-crazed Middle Eastern dictator of fictional Greater Lolm, has managed to acquire several atomic bombs and is blackmailing the free world, demanding dominion over oil-rich neighbor Lesser Lolm. Confronted with possible global (and personal) disaster, the self-centered U.S. president shrewdly and sinisterly sees the threat as an opportunity to reestablish his popularity and ensure reelection. So by default, Secretary of State Ray Shepard, a patriotic career diplomat, is faced with the dilemma of saving the country-and the world. With a cast of nicely fleshed-out stereotypes from the executive and legislative branches and the media, and with a roll call of world powers along embassy row and at the U.N., Drury provides an intriguing and gossipy insider's reminder of the ever-present atomic predicament. Despite an overly expository beginning and prose that occasionally resembles a jungle thicket, the narrative quickly gathers pace and sweeps readers along toward a chilling conclusion. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The crisis behind Drury's didactic purpose--condemning American vacillation in foreign affairs--erupts in a fictional Arab country. Poverty-stricken Greater Lolomecovets its oil-rich neighbor, Lesser Lolome; and sadistic ruler "Seedy" Sidi bin Sidi bin Sidi has a few atomic bombs with which to enforce his ambition to unify the two states. Scene shift to Washington: in favor of caving in stands the president, while the secretary of state wants to take a stand against international brigandage. In the battle over policy, each official scrambles to have his spin on the course America should take published in the media, and the president ultimately pulls off a bizarre public relations stunt that gives Sidi everything he wants. That buildup to a higher cynicism achieves Drury's intent of decrying America's fecklessness about using power in recent years, but as to a signal achievement in the political thriller field, this novel is too much a message to add much to the medium. Yet, the author's reputation from "Advise and Consent" (1960) could tap into many readers for this novel.

Gilbert Taylor