THE GAY PLACE. Being Three Related Novels THE FLEA CIRCUS, ROOM ENOUGH TO CAPER, COUNTRY PLEASURES by Brammer, William - 1961

Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Co., 1961. First edition. The author's only book. An advance copy INSCRIBED by Brammer, "For Wm. Beckman -- Friend of famous Arthurs / Pen Pay of Genius Poets / Patron of the Pataphysician. From his boon companion Wm. (B. L.) Brammer 3/21/63 (4 a. m.)." One of the best political novels we've read. Brammer worked for LBJ and became a heavy user of drugs which eventually led to his death. Set in an unnamed state identical to Texas, each novella has a different protagonist: a member of the state legislature; the state's junior senator; and the governor's speechwriter. The governor himself, Arthur Fenstemaker, a master politician (said to have been based on Brammer's mentor Lyndon Johnson) serves as the dominant figure throughout. The book also includes characters based on Ladybird, and LBJ's brother Sam Houston Johnson. The book, which earned the author a Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award. has been widely acclaimed as one of the best American political novels ever written. Yellow printed wraps a bit soiled and a bit worn on edges but still very good. INSCRIBED ADVANCE COPY