The central figure of this novel is a young man whose parents were executed for conspiring to steal atomic secrets for Russia. His name is Daniel Isaacson, and as the story opens, his parents have been dead for many years. He has had a long time to adjust to their deaths. He has not adjusted. Out of the shambles of his childhood, he has constructed a new life--marriage to an adoring girl who gives him a son of his own, and a career in scholarship. It is a life that enrages him. In the silence of the library at Columbia ...
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The central figure of this novel is a young man whose parents were executed for conspiring to steal atomic secrets for Russia. His name is Daniel Isaacson, and as the story opens, his parents have been dead for many years. He has had a long time to adjust to their deaths. He has not adjusted. Out of the shambles of his childhood, he has constructed a new life--marriage to an adoring girl who gives him a son of his own, and a career in scholarship. It is a life that enrages him. In the silence of the library at Columbia University, where he is supposedly writing a Ph.D. dissertation, Daniel composes something quite different. It is a confession of his most intimate relationships--with his wife, his foster parents, and his kid sister Susan, whose own radicalism so reproaches him. It is a book of memories: riding a bus with his parents to the ill-fated Paul Robeson concert in Peekskill; watching the FBI take his father away; appearing with Susan at rallies protesting their parents' innocence; visiting his mother and father in the Death House. It is a book of investigation: transcribing Daniel's interviews with people who knew his parents, or who knew about them; and logging his strange researches and discoveries in the library stacks. It is a book of judgments of everyone involved in the case--lawyers, police, informers, friends, and the Isaacson family itself. It is a book rich in characters, from elderly grand- mothers of immigrant culture, to covert radicals of the McCarthy era, to hippie marchers on the Pen-tagon. It is a book that spans the quarter-century of American life since World War II. It is a book about the nature of Left politics in this country--its sacrificial rites, its peculiar cruelties, its humility, its bitterness. It is a book about some of the beautiful and terrible feelings of childhood. It is about the nature of guilt and innocence, and about the relations of people to nations. It is The Book of Daniel .
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Seller's Description:
Very good in very good dust jacket. First Edition. Hardcover. Condition: Collectable, very good. 1st. First printing. Book and jacket almost like new. Full number line (starts at "2" for Random House). Book and jacket almost but not quite perfect. also, jacket is unclipped. Original edition, not book club edition; Cover artwork may differ;
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Seller's Description:
Very good + in very good + jacket. 8vo. Brown cloth, with red spine lettering and embossed front cover. 303 pages. Remainder stamp on bottom text block. No names, or marks to text. In illustrated dust jacket (with price intact).
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Seller's Description:
Fine in very good dust jacket. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 303 p. Audience: General/trade. No previous owner's name. Clean, tight pages. No bent corners. No remainder mark. Dj has index tear.
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Seller's Description:
Very good + in very good + jacket. 8vo. Brown cloth, with red spine titles and embossed front cover. Red top stain. 303 pages. No names, remainder marks, or marks to text. In dust-jacket (with price intact). A crisp, unmarked copy of the first edition, first printing of Doctorow's fourth book.
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Seller's Description:
Collectable, very good. First printing. Book and jacket almost like new. Full number line (starts at "2" for Random House). Book and jacket almost but not quite perfect. also, jacket is price clipped. Original edition, not book club. **We are a small family business selling online since 1999 with over 30 years' experience providing fine new and pre-owned books. We provide professional service and individual attention to your order, daily shipments, and sturdy packaging. FREE TRACKING ON ALL SHIPMENTS WITHIN USA. **Your purchase supports our town's public library.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good jacket. Book E.L. Doctorow's 3rd novel, a 1st/1st in Very Good Condition. The HB has unmarked brown boards with a no bumps and bright red upper page edges. The DJ is basically but price-clipped. The colors are still bright with just a tad of dirt. A 50+ year old classic. Adapted in 1983 as "Daniel" by Sidney Lumet and the author, starring Timothy Hutton, Mandy Patinkin, Lindsay Crouse complemented by Lumet's signature, an all-star NY cast. **Bren-Books specializes in 1st Edition and Rare Books into Film**