The Nix by Nathan Hill

I had some difficulty getting started in this book, and then I had some difficulty putting it down.  So if it seems slow going at first, give it to page 200. Sam Andersen is a man who is in the middle of a crisis, but the truth is that his life as a whole has had come challenges.  You might think that it started with his mother leaving home when he was in grammar school, but in actuality the problem predated that, because she wanted to leave, despite the fact that she had a child that she would be leaving in the hands of his abandoned father.  So the book is essentially told around that moment, what led up to her leaving, what happened as a result of her leaving, and what happened when she came back.
It is a well told story, one that chronicles a nation's response to the last political uprising and what we were willing to suspend at that time.  I think going into a new political crisis, it is well for us to remember what we are up against and what they will try to take away from us, because in reality, we only hold the votes, we don't hold many of the other cards, and it would be well to remember how we have to fight when that is the case.  Great read.