Bücher von Ward S. Just

In this astute novel of Americans abroad, Ward Just turns his keen eye toward the dark underpinnings of nationalism, fame, and artistic integrity. When a famous Hollywood director travels to post-Wall Germany to rekindle his genius, he is unexpectedly reunited with an actress who mysteriously disappeared from the set of his movie thirty years before. Masterly and atmospheric, The Weather in Berlin explores the subtleties of artistic inspiration, the nature of memory, and the pull of the past.

"A master American novelist." -Vanity Fair"A gripping international thriller" about a Foreign Service officer-and the son who turns to terrorism to spite him (Los Angeles Times). William North Jr. inherited his father's keen political instincts and passion for justice. But the last time Ambassador North saw his son he seemed like a stranger-and a hostile one at that. Now, just as North prepares to take a new post in Germany, reports emerge that Bill Jr. is aligned with a German terrorist organization. Suddenly, a private conflict between father and son escalates to a matter of national security. North is faced with a terrifying dilemma as loyalty to family and country are directly at odds. The American Ambassador is at once a riveting tale of suspense and a thoughtful meditation on the fragility of Western values in an age of terrorism. "Haunting and persuasive . . . Charged with authenticity . . . A splendid book that is both thoughtful and fast-moving." -The New York Times

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY TIME AND THE LOS ANGELES TIMES • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK"A literary triumph that transcends its war story. . . its greatness will stand the test of time."-San Francisco Chronicle "A master American novelist." -Vanity FairA Dangerous Friend is a thrilling narrative roiling with intrigue, mayhem, and betrayal. Here is the story of conscience and its consequences among those for whom Vietnam was neither the right fight nor the wrong fight but the only fight. The exotic tropical surroundings, the coarsening and corrupting effects of a colonial regime, the visionary delusions of the American democratizers, all play their part. A few civilians with bright minds and sunny intentions want to reform Vietnam-but the Vietnam they see isn't the Vietnam that is. Sydney Parade, a political scientist, has left home and family in an effort to become part of something larger than himself, a foreign-aid operation in Saigon. Even before he arrives, he encounters French and Americans who reveal to him the unsettling depths of a conflict he thought he understood-and in Saigon, the Vietnamese add yet another dimension. Before long, the rampant missteps and misplaced ideals trap Parade and others in a moral crossfire.

Sydney Van Damm loves living among foreigners: having escaped Germany and his boyhood memories of World War II, he makes a life as a translator in Paris. There he meets Angela, an American expatriate who becomes his wife. Their marriage is brushed by tragedy, and in the turbulent seventies and eighties, as the new Europe is born, Sydney gets involved in an East German scam that comes crashing down around him.

A FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD "Will be read in a century's time be anyone seeking to understand how we lived."-Detroit Free Press"A master American novelist." -Vanity Fair An epic chronicle of three generations of Washington power brokers and the women who loved them (except when they didn't), Echo House is Ward Just's masterpiece. The Washington Post described it 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."

This masterly volume comprises the best shorter fiction written by Just over the last 25 years. "The working life, the war, politics, love affairs, and marriage seem to be the waters in which my boats set sail," Just writes. Here is a generous selection of the work that has earned Just his reputation as "one of the most astute writers of American fiction."

A young pollster named Jack Gance becomes a savvy Washington political insider and eventually a U.S. senator - but not without paying the usual dues, which turns out to be a dirty business. Gance wastes his love on married women, but ultimately learns who his true mistress is: "I had arrived an apprentice from Chicago, but Washington had taken care of that. It was a great city. . . . It gave and gave and gave and gave and expected nothing in return but loyalty."