A Man in Full

The setting is Atlanta Georgia &#151; a racially mixed late-century boomtown full of fresh wealth and wily politicians. The protagonist is Charles Croker once a college football star now a late-middle-aged Atlanta conglomerate king whose outsize ego has at last hit up against reality. Charlie has a 29000 acre quail-shooting plantation a young and demanding second wife and a half-empty office complex with a staggering load of debt.<br><br>Meanwhile Conrad Hensley idealistic young father of two is laid off from his job at the Croker Global Foods warehouse near Oakland and finds himself spiraling into the lower depths of the American legal system.<br><br>And back in Atlanta when star Georgia Tech running back Fareek &#147;the Canon&#148; Fanon a homegrown product of the city&#146;s slums is accused of date-raping the daughter of a pillar of the white establishment upscale black lawyer Roger White II is asked to represent Fanon and help keep the city&#146;s delicate racial balance from blowing sky-high.<br><br>Networks of illegal Asian immigrants crisscrossing the continent daily life behind bars shady real estate syndicates &#151; Wolfe shows us contemporary America with all the verve wit and insight that have made him our most admired novelist. Charlie Croker&#146;s deliverance from his tribulations provides an unforgettable denouement to the most widely awaited hilarious and telling novel America has seen in ages &#151; Tom Wolfe&#146;s most outstanding achievement to date.