There is no more powerful symbol in American political life than the presidency, and the image of presidential power has had no less profound an impact on American fiction. This book illuminates the fundamental concern with democratic sovereignty that informs the literary works of the twentieth century.

"A Pinnacle of Feeling" illuminates the fundamental concern with democratic sovereignty that informs the most innovative literary works of the twentieth century, and shows how these works helped redefine and elevate the role of executive power in American culture.

PREFACE ix
INTRODUCTION: "The Executive Disease": Presidential Power and Literary Imagination 1
CHAPTER ONE: Masters of Their Constitution: Gertrude Stein and the Promise of Progressive Leadership 33
CHAPTER TWO: Governable Beasts: Hurston, Roth, and the New Deal 67
CHAPTER THREE: The Myth of the Public Interest: Pluralism and Presidentialism in the Fifties 100
CHAPTER FOUR: Come Home, America: Vietnam and the End of the Progressive Presidency 139
EPILOGUE: Philip Roth and the Waning and Waxing of Political Time 178
Notes 197
Index 243