A Man You Could Love

John Callahan, literary executor for Ralph Ellison, and the man who completed Ellison's second novel, Junteenth, is a brilliant scholar and wonderful storyteller. In his first novel, Callahan's wisdom, wit and deep understanding of the values and politics that have shaped our country all come through. This is an author who must have many stories to tell, so let's hope that A Man You Could Love receives the attention and reviews it deserves. Bravo!

John Callahan, professor of humanities at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon, and former running mate of Senator Eugene McCarthy in his presidential campaign in Oregon, has used his wit, his educational background and his political experiences to write a thoroughly engrossing novel. Besides the political angle, he creates believably likeable characters that value friendship, family, love and integrity. Gabe Bontempo first meets Mick Whelan at the civil rights march on Washington in 1963. From there, they continue to run into each other as political operatives--Bontempo working for the 1968 presidential campaign of Bobby Kennedy and Whelen working for the campaign of Eugene McCarthy. Neither campaign went the way the characters hoped, but they grew to be friends when Whelen decides to run for Congress from Oregon and asks Bontempo to manage his campaign. Together, they learn the real ropes in Washington, D.C. They work on legislation that invokes both anti-war and environmentalist stands--forging political connections and making political enemies as well as networks of supporters. Yet, as they are doing this, they are also loving their wives and raising young families. They have to deal with death, divorce and heartache as well as the adulation and press notoriety that comes with increasing fame. Whelen is the mover and shaker within the book, but Bontempo is the man behind the "man you could love." While Whelen is a Congressman and later a Senator and even a Presidential candidate, his friend Gabe is the one he confides in and the one who smoothes the way for his many appearances. It is hard to say if Gabe Bontempo really has a life of his own, but as the narrator of the story, he knows all the angles. The book is fiction, but as in all good historical or political fiction, it is sometimes hard to tell where the truth leaves off and the story begins. According to Callahan, everyone in the book is fictitious, but they sound and feel like the real thing. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and highly recommend it. Armchair Interviews says: Fact or fiction? Regardless, it is a 5-star read.

This book is both enlightening and exciting. It will be welcomed by anyone interested in the history of late 20th century US politics as well as those who enjoy a great story.

Callahan has written a riveting and sensitive novel of friendship and political coming of age from the 1960s to 2000. His writing is simultaneously clear, beautiful and complex, and he is a masterful storyteller. Heartily recommend this powerful novel--"a book you could love". J. Duncan

John Callahan has written a compelling, sensitive, powerful and insightful novel into the complexities of Washington politics, without obliterating the warmth and intimacy of the family, both extended and personal. A classic.