Even though it has been 30 years since Allen Drury published Advise and Consent, the landmark novel of backstairs intrigue on Capitol Hill, its plot remains eerily contemporary. Against the backdrop of a brutal confirmation battle reminiscent of the John Tower nomination, the 1959 novel portrays an earnest young Senator who tries in vain to resist political blackmail over a homosexual encounter in his distant past. But the Senator is driven to suicide when he learns that an unsavory syndicated columnist is about to print the politically devastating charges. A fictional Washington Post executive explains haplessly that while no responsible paper...
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