Summary

Part V of chapter 20 describes Casey’s “conversion” to literature — first Walt Whitman, then Camus and Emerson, then Jack Kerouac. The narrative pivots to Casey’s presidential ambitions. He gave up his literary pursuits and devoted his reading energy to presidential study. After finding a copy of a biography of Theodore Roosevelt in an independent bookstore in Washington, D.C., Casey came to consider Roosevelt the pinnacle of the presidency and adopted him as a role model for his own political career. In order to gather strength and power to launch this career, Casey decided to go back to Texas.

Chapter 21 opens with Casey languishing in Dallas. One of his former acquaintances from his law firm internship helped to secure him a job at Neiman Marcus and convinced him to consider running for Congress. Casey drew on Suetonius’s history of Julius Caesar...