Word: macs
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...immediate consequence of his arrest was a phone call from his older brother, then a rising young politician headed eventually for the governor's mansion. The Richmond papers had picked the Evans name out of the wire story on the Harvard violence, and his brother wanted to know why Mac was involved. The arrest of his brother didn't hurt Lester Evans politically; he became lieutenant governor and would certainly have made it at least to the governor's chair. But he developed a brain tumor that killed him in office. His brother's experience, as well as his father...
Large sections of The Shad Treatment describe Evans's family, beginning with the arrival of an ancestor in 1619. Most of the narrative centers on Stephan Evans, Mac's great-great-grandfather, who built the family fortune through an early ironworks and cannon manufactury for the Civil War. The sections on Stephan Evans, his father, his brother, and his own life before the campaign are mostly good, interesting stories, filled with evocative description; when taken together they help explain Mac and his attachment to Thomas Jefferson Shadwell...
...Mac Evans came to Shadwell's campaign after a year and a half at the University of Virginia Law School and about a year spent working on George McGovern's campaign. Tom Jeff is portrayed as a politician who is honest to a fault, and as sincere and concerned about the plight of "his people" as Jesus himself. Epps describes the campaign stop that Shadwell makes at a small-town general store...
...Mac Evans nearly drives himself into the ground working for this man. During the campaign, Evans's father returns home, escaping from the explosion of a military coup in Latin America, and dies shortly thereafter. That, and the worsening election day prospects, take their toll on Evans. His enthusiasm flags, Shadwell's standing in the polls drops as his opponent launches a vicious attack based mainly on an antibusing theme, and not even a desperate series of rallies in the last week can save Tom Jeff...
Although very well and smoothly written, The Shad Treatment does have its flaws. The long passages of description tend to become dull, as does a long excerpt from Mac's father's testimony before a Congressional committee. But it reads quickly, and to some, may make a powerful argument for staying out of politics. It does, however, make a strong case for electing Shadwell governor this year, and the publicity the novel is receiving in the Washington and Richmond press may make that possible. The real question now is whether Epps will follow The Shad Treatment with another novel...