A Thing of State

From a Pulitzer Prize winner, “a believable worst-case scenario about the consequences of our failure to bring the Gulf War to a satisfactory end” (Publishers Weekly).

This classic political thriller by New York Times–bestselling author Allen Drury is as insightful and relevant today as when it was first published.

Secretary of State Raymond Cass Stanley struggles to help the US President avoid a potentially disastrous head-on collision with Sidi bin Sidi bin Sidi, President for Life of All the Peoples of Lolómé, a tiny Middle Eastern country. Sidi has recently acquired several nuclear weapons and threatens to deploy them against his even tinier neighbor, Lesser Lolómé, and the President is determined to take him down.

This clash among proud and defiant leaders, and the repercussions worldwide among US allies and enemies, forms a sophisticated and fascinating novel of present-day politics and international tensions.

No author has ever portrayed American and world politics with more vivid reality and understanding than Allen Drury.

“The plot resonates with recent events in the Middle East and with America's loss of will and increased vulnerability to atomic blackmail, a valid topic for a political novel.” —Kirkus Reviews