Patriots

America's first black president has just lost re-election. A new leader tries to pull the country out of a terrible recession - only to face a devilish plot from inside his own party. David Frum's darkly comic satire PATRIOTS is not only a warning about the future of American politics. It is a scorching, intimate explanation of why the U.S. political system has so badly failed the American people over the years just past.

 

A naïve young man finds himself caught in a complex scheme involving blowhard radio hosts, an angry right-wing protest movement, scheming Washington operators, a drug-addled producer of forged video exposes, corrupt politicians, selfish political donors, think-tank experts-for-hire, and a cynical cable news network.

 

As the young protagonist struggles to find his way though this colorfully described landscape, he discovers that the real villains of the story are much closer to home. They are those too passive to take responsibility for a malfunctioning political system: people like ... him.  And so our protagonist arrives at his own moment of decision – and the novel’s unexpected and hilarious conclusion.