The Henderson Equation Published Book Reviews See complete details about The Henderson Equation including immediate purchase options. The power of the press to manipulate and persuade comes under the microscope in this tense exploration of the media.

Quotes

"A fast-paced suspense story... Only a seasoned newspaperman could have written with such inside skills."
 - Jeremiah O'Leary, Washington Star

"The most courageous and truthful novel to come out of Washington in years."
 - Viola Drath

"Tight, absorbing and timely story."
 - West Coast Review of Books

"A Washington cliffhanger."
 - Kirkus Review

"Fascinating."
 - Baltimore News-American

"Philosophy classes should find sufficient material in it to last at least a full semester."
 - Best Sellers

Add to the current spate of Washington-based novels another which, author disclaimers notwithstanding, contains an unusual amount of parallel with real people and events. The one probes deeply into the special pressures brought to bear on the Washington press in its adversary relationship to government. Can it wield its power objectively, withstanding demands for favored treatment? Can it maintain an uncompromised integrity? The Chronicle's managing editor tangles with these fundamental issues when his star reporter turns up some facts that might kill the presidential aspirations of the owner's preferred candidate. The fact that the paper had recently hounded a disliked president out of office provides the other half of the equation. Adler has written a tough, unsentimental novel about the responsibilities of power and the subtleties of corruption.

Houston Chronicle

Novelist Warren Adler insists in this preface that all characters and institutions in his book are "purely the creation of the author's imagination."

Let's take a look. The major institution in Equation is the Washington Chronicle, a liberal newspaper that has succeeded in toppling a corrupt president. The Chronicle's publisher is a woman. The executive editor is a man of principle who requires that accusatory news stories quote at least two sources. The investigative reporter who brought down the president is a young man named Gunderstein. Sound familiar?

The plot revolves about a second political scandal in the making. Burton Henderson, a liberal senator and the leading candidate for his party's presidential nomination, stands accused by an ex-CIA operative of taking part in the assassinations of Vietnam's Diem brothers in 1963.

Publisher Myra Pell, after breaking one president, wants to feed her ego even more by making a president. She wants Henderson elected to the White House, and she's willing to sweep the accusations under the rug.

Executive editor Nick Gold faces an agonizing decision: Does he play ball with Pell and kill Gunderstein's investigation, or does he continue to pursue the Henderson story until he has a second source to verify the accusation?

Four years ago, this might have made interesting light reading. The Watergate scandal, however, has proved that old saw about truth being stranger fiction. So, if you want mystery, drama, intrigue, politics and journalism all wrapped into one, try All the President's Men - not The Henderson Equation.

See complete details about The Henderson Equation including immediate purchase options.