DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN

The famous headline declaring Truman defeated by Dewey inspires Mallon's (Henry and Clara, 1994, etc.) old-fashioned look into the lives of a handful of the residents of Thomas E. Dewey's hometown of Owosso (pop. 16,000), Michigan. The year 1948, when Dewey did come close, was both a backward- and a forward-looking time. The widow Jane Herrick is so obsessed by the death of her son Arnie in WW II that she drives her younger son Tim to drink—and worse; and old widower Frank Sherwood not only remembers being a Rough Rider but has his own 50-year-old secret to protect. At the same time, for others, the future is all the rage. Anne Macmurray, college graduate and attractive (add: spunky and smart) young woman, works in the local bookstore (The Naked and the Dead is a new release) while pushing slowly forward with her own novel. Love creates the future, and Anne is courted both by the rich and handsome Peter Cox—running for state senate on the Dewey coattails—and by the earthy, up-from-poverty Jack Riley, who nurses his dying father while also working in Flint for the UAW. As the pre-election summer passes, town boosters—most notably local merchant Al Jackson—plan feverishly how to capitalize on Dewey's coming presidency. After the bunting, ceremonies, and parades, a permanent theme park—``Dewey Walk''- -will be built along the river, to draw tourism forever. All, of course, will taste of ashes in the chill dawn after election eve- -though not before a number of minor mysteries are cleared up, or before Anne Macmurray, in a flurry of purest melodrama, votes on her own true love. Nothing new for readers of Babbitt, but fine as a reminder of the period—cars, candidates, and radio shows all done with perfect pitch (`` `Yeah, Peter interrupted. `Ronald Reagan's wife. He's the union man out in Hollywood, isn't he, Jack?' '')