Everything you need to understand or teach The Big Enchilada by L. A. Morse.
The protagonist, Sam Hunter, seems an odd mixture until one understands that his antagonism to "assholes" makes his actions and philosophy entirely consistent. Morse provides Hunter with a plausible motive for his philosophy that only outside the system can one be free enough to maintain any sense of personal integrity. The combination of Hunter's experiences in Viet Nam and his memories of his father, "a straight man in a crooked town" who was...