American Sycamore: A Novel

(Hardback)

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A moving novel about the devotions of friendship and the power of love to heal, American Sycamore celebrates the American experiment and the importance of giving a damn.

Friends since their college days, Rob, Julia, and Ray are boomers who set out in their twenties to make things right in America. A couple since law school, Rob is a distinguished Constitutional scholar at Harvard and Julia a prominent journalist writing a book about the wreckage of the nations political life, while Ray serves as dean of the medical school. Rays work as a physician in a Vietnam combat zone left him scarred yet with a powerful and loving commitment to heal and to support his friends through tragedy. Together, theyve accomplished things that matterin the public square and in medicine.

Yet, in contemporary America, they still have some hard lessons to learn. After the New York Times publication of the 1619 Project, Rob finds himself out of step with critics and his students, but his and Julias secure world is truly shaken by a diagnosis of prostate cancer that will require medical interventionreleasing memories of another time when their lives were turned upside down. Meanwhile, when Ray learns that the hospital and school he has devoted his life to may have betrayed patients and the medical community, he must choose whether to take up again a fight he has waged all his life against the worst impulses of big institutions.

Reviews

"A gripping novel that reflects the turbulence in American life and the challenges of the American experiment. I found it riveting."--Ben Bradlee Jr., Pulitzer-Prize winning editor of the Boston Globe Spotlight team (the basis for Oscar best picture, Spotlight)

"A profound chronicle of our time. It is also an exquisite rendering of hope and the invincible power of love between husband and wife, even in the face of unthinkable personal tragedy."--Barbara Delinsky, New York Times bestselling author

"Wonderful and especially apt for these times, American Sycamore celebrates resilience, humanity, and grace. Let's hope this novel is widely read and that's its generosity of spirt is highly contagious."--Bob Kerrey, former US Senator, Navy Seal and Medal of Honor recipient

"Profoundly moving. With this deeply personal novel Kenney delivers an unflinching and unforgettable love story."--Deborah Kosofsky, Senior Producer, Today

Author Bio

Charles Kenney serves as chief journalist at Northwell Health and executive editor of the Northwell Innovation Series. He is the author of many books including The Best Practice: How the New Quality Movement Is Transforming Medicine (PublicAffairs 2008), which The New York Times described as "the first large-scale history of the quality movement." He serves on the faculty of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Bston, Massachusetts.