Fellow Travelers [Paperback]

It's 1950s Washington, D.C.: a world of bare-knuckled ideology and secret dossiers, dominated by personalities like Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and Joe McCarthy. Enter Timothy Laughlin, a recent college graduate and devout Catholic eager to join the crusade against Communism. An encounter with a handsome State Department official, Hawkins Fuller, leads to Tim's first job and, after Fuller's advances, his first love affair. As McCarthy mounts a desperate bid for power and internal investigations focus on “sexual subversives” in the government, Tim and Fuller find it ever more dangerous to navigate their double lives. Moving between the diplomatic world of Foggy Bottom and NATO's front line in Europe,Fellow Travelersis a searing historical novel infused with political drama, unexpected humor, and genuine heartbreak.“Sharp-eyed . . . Some of the most lucid prose in contemporary American literature. . . . [Mallon's] best book yet.”—Los Angeles Times"Mallon writes crisp, buoyant prose, and he has a perfect ear for his period." —The New York Times Book Review"Exuberant. . . . Brisk and seductive." —The Washington Post Book World“Brilliant. . . . This is Mallon's best historical novel, period, and better than most contemporary novels of any stripe.”—The Philadelphia InquirerThomas Mallonis the author of the novelsBandbox, Henry and Clara, and Dewey Defeats Truman; In Fact,a collection of essays; and the nonfiction booksStolen Words, A Book of One's Own, and Mrs. Paine's Garage. A frequent contributor to The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker,and other magazines, he lives in Washington, D.C.Part One: September–December 1953

In the era of security clearances to be an Irish Catholic became prima facie evidence of loyalty. Harvard men were to be checked; Fordham men would do the checking.
—DANIEL PATRICK MOlSC