{"product_id":"roscoe-9780142001738","title":"Roscoe","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Thick with crime, passion, and backroom banter\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e), \u003ci\u003eRoscoe\u003c\/i\u003e is an odyssey of great scope and linguistic verve, a deadly, comic masterpiece from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eIronweed\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIt's V-J Day, the war is over, and Roscoe Conway, after twenty-six years as the second in command of Albany's notorious political machine, decides to quit politics forever. But there's no way out, and only his Machiavellian imagination can help him cope with the erupting disasters. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEvery step leads back to the past--to the early loss of his true love, the takeover of city hall, the machine's fight with FDR and Al Smith to elect a governor, and the methodical assassination of gangster Jack \"Legs\" Diamond. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Kennedy's Albany Cycle\u003c\/b\u003e of novels reflect what he once described as the fusion of his imagination with a single place. A native and longtime resident of Albany, New York, his work moves from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, chronicling family life, the city's netherworld, and its spheres of power--financial, ethnic, political--often among the Irish-Americans who dominated the city in this period. The novels in his cycle include, \u003ci\u003eLegs\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBilly Phelan's Greatest Game\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eIronweed\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eQuinn's Book\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eVery Old Bones\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Flaming Corsage\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eRoscoe\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Kennedy\u003c\/b\u003e, author, screenwriter and playwright, was born and raised in Albany, New York. Kennedy brought his native city to literary life in many of his works. The Albany cycle, includes \u003ci\u003eLegs\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBilly Phelan's Greatest Game\u003c\/i\u003e, and the Pulitzer Prize winning \u003ci\u003eIronweed\u003c\/i\u003e.The versatile Kennedy wrote the screenplay for \u003ci\u003eIronweed\u003c\/i\u003e, the play \u003ci\u003eGrand View\u003c\/i\u003e, and cowrote the screenplay for the \u003ci\u003eThe Cotton Club\u003c\/i\u003e with Francis Ford Coppola. Kennedy also wrote the nonfiction \u003ci\u003eO Albany!\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRiding the Yellow Trolley Car\u003c\/i\u003e. Some of the other works he is known for include \u003ci\u003eRoscoe\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eVery Old Bones\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKennedy is the founding director of the New York State Writers Institute and, in 1993, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has received numerous literary awards, including the Literary Lions Award from the New York Public Library, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Governor's Arts Award. Kennedy was also named Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France and a member of the board of directors of the New York State Council for the Humanities.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Penguin Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50503066845458,"sku":"9780142001738","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_615af251-5d04-4394-8a8c-66185c17aee6.jpg?v=1730781913","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/roscoe-9780142001738","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}