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Echo House

by Ward Just

Published: 1997-12-15
Paperback : 336 pages

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Introduction

Here is Just's masterpiece - an epic chronicle of three generations of Washington power brokers and the womenfolk who loved them (except when they didn't). The Washington Post described this book as "a fascinating if ultimately painful fairy tale, complete with a family curse. The decline of the Behls represents the decline of Washington from the bright dawn of the American century into the gathering shadows of an alien new millennium."

Editorial Review

As a foreign correspondent and writer for the Washington Post, Ward Just knows Washington. And what he knows he's put into his latest political novel, Echo House, the story of three generations of a powerful Washington family. The book's title refers to the Behl family mansion, a historic landmark that has belonged to the Behls since the Wilson administration. Constance Behl, matriarch of the family, buys the house when it seems her husband, Senator Adolph Behl, is a sure bet for the vice presidential slot on his party's ticket. The political jockeying that surrounds this nomination and Senator Behl's mortifying disappointment are dealt with in the first 20 pages, leaving the rest of the book to chronicle the fortunes of the senator's son, Axel, and grandson, Alec.

Axel grows up to be a wartime hero and, later, an eminent leader of the Democratic Party. He marries Sylvia, a poet, and has a son, Alec, who grows up to be a powerful beltway lawyer. Outside this family circle there is a host of minor characters--politicians and politician's wives, reporters, lawyers, generals and civil servants. But throughout Echo House the main character is politics itself, as men and women wheel and deal, coax and bribe and threaten their way into power. By the end, it is evident that individuals come and go, but the system is forever.

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"A little specialized, so read this book if you are really interested in the workings of Washington"by Deepthi M. (see profile) 05/18/08

As a club, we found the premise of the book very interesting but the book itself was a tedious read. Some of the references to the government in Washington were difficult to comprehend, more so because... (read more)

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