Synopses & Reviews
America is starkly divided between the haves and the have-nots. A Republican president seeks reelection in the afterglow of a war many view as unnecessary and imperialisttic. He is bankrolled by millionaires, with every step of his career orchestrated by a political mastermind. Religious extremists crusade against the nation’s moral collapse. Terrorists plot the assassination of leaders around the world. And a lonely, disturbed revolutionary stalks the President. . . .
It all happened. One hundred years ago. It all comes to life in The Temple of Music.
A vivid, gripping historical novel of the Gilded Age, The Temple of Music re-creates the larger-than-life characters and tempestuous events that rocked turn-of-the-century America. From battlefields to political backrooms, from romance to murder, The Temple of Music tells the tales of robber barons, immigrants, yellow journalists, and anarchists, all centering on one of the most fascinating, mysterious, but little-explored events in American history: the assassination of President William McKinley by the disturbed anarchist Leon Czolgosz.
The Temple of Music brings to life the intrigues and passions, the hatreds and loves of a rich cast of real-life characters, including Emma Goldman, the passionate anarchist who forsakes her personal life to fight for workers’ rights and free love; her imprisoned lover, the failed assassin Alexander Berkman; corrupt kingmaker “Dollar” Mark Hanna, whose fund-raising and strategizing foreshadowed how modern presidential campaigns would be run; William Jennings Bryan, the populist orator and chief political rival of McKinley; flamboyant newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst; self-appointed morality czar Anthony Comstock; steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie; and Carnegie’s iron-fisted manager, Henry Clay Frick. At the center of this tableau is William McKinley, the president, and Leon Czolgosz, his assassin. McKinley rises to the presidency almost by accident, floating on the money and political clout of Mark Hanna. Sober and unimaginative, McKinley’s personal life is marked by drama and tragedy, the unstable wife he loves, and enemies he cannot imagine—chief among them, Leon Czolgosz, a lonely immigrant and factory worker who plots the most spectacular protest in an age of spectacular protests—McKinley’s assassination at the 1901 Buffalo World’s Fair.
Sweeping in scope, The Temple of Music is a rare literary achievement that intertwines history and fiction into an indelible tapestry of America at the dawn of the twentieth century.
Praise for Jonathan Lowy’s Elvis and Nixon
“Imaginative and often hilarious . . . Pop culture and recent history are hog-tied and transmogrified to smashing effect in Lowy’s imaginative and often hilarious first novel. He moves among several storylines effortlessly, concocting a darkly comic melodrama the likes of which we haven’t seen since The Manchurian Candidate.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“[A] high-flying first novel . . . darkly funny.”—New York Times Book Review
“A snappy blend of fact and fiction.”—Time
“Inventive, irreverent, and surreal.”—Houston Chronicle
“[A] darkly humorous look at America under siege . . . A notable debut.”—Dallas Morning News
“A dizzying blend of fact and fiction . . . A daring debut.”—Arizona Republic
“There are a few words that fully describe Lowy’s Elvis and Nixon—bizarre, confusing, and enlightening, but also hard to put down.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch
“A garishly readable romp.”—Kansas City Star
“Entertaining . . . enigmatic.”—Los Angeles Times
“A thoughtful and funny look at a nation that was becoming frayed at the edges and two men who were emblematic of that disarray.”—Denver Post
Synopsis
In a novel that mirrors the narrative sweep of E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime, critically acclaimed author Jonathan Lowy captures the breathtaking pace and dazzling potential that was America at the turn of the century. Larger-than-life figures such as Andrew Carnegie, Emma Goldman, William McKinley, Ambrose Bierce, and William Randolph Hearst brush shoulders and sometimes collide with wretchedly poor working men like Leon Czolgosz, a factory worker who, after a lifetime of alienation and 16-hour workdays, would ultimately assassinate President McKinley. Spanning years, countries, and classes, The Temple of Music paints a portrait of a young country at a time when everything was new--and every day had the power to change history.
Synopsis
Spanning years, countries, and classes, this novel paints a portrait of a young country at the turn of the century--a time when everything was new; every day had the power to change history, and larger-than-life figures brushed shoulders and sometimes collided with wretchedly poor working men.
About the Author
Jonathan Lowy is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Elvis and Nixon. He lives in the Washington, D.C., area with his wife, Dawn, and their two children, Alessandra and Zachary.