The First of January

The First Of January by Lee Head is a wonderful and vivid study of Oklahoma politics in the fifties and sixties. Although the names are changed, it's very hard to see who each character is meant to be:Robert S. Kerr, John F. Kennedy, LBJ, Edward Gaylord, and a slew of US Senators and state politicians are there in a fabulous bit of almost forgotten history, from the power struggles to build the Kerr-McLellen Arkansas River Navigation System to the mandate of the people to make Oklahoma a "wet" state to the unfortunate--the first ever Republican Governor in Oklahoma. This book has the feel of a biography, for it mostly tells the life story of Senator Samuel Riggs(Robert S. Kerr), from his very humble beginnings as the child of a tennent farmer in Ada to his days as the Governor to his years as the most powerful Senator in the US. The word pictures are vivid, detailing an Oklahoma City that has not existed since the early seventies. The description of the dawn of a working day that begins chapter 15 is especially nice. If you love Oklahoma history and politics, you will love this book. I have read it many times, and would really love to meet the author.