Middle America [Kindle Edition]

Anthony F. Lewis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It's beautifully rendered ... utterly believable ... Middle America is probably the best thing I've read this year." -- ~ Thomas Knapp, Knappster

"With Middle America, Lewis demonstrates two important attributes--that he is a talented writer; and that he isn't interested in churning out formulaic fiction." -- Sunni Maravillosa ~ Sunni's Salon March/April 2007

Product Description

It's been five years since Montana Governor Ben Kane led his state to an epic standoff with the federal government. Now retired from politics, he's kicking back and enjoying life, running his popular Helena brewpub and watching the buffalo renew the prairie.

Then he accepts a generous offer from a glittering, high-profile resort, where exotic drugs and legal sex-for-hire lure visitors and keep the corporate profits rolling in. Everything's hugely successful — until Ben starts wondering where all the money's going. His investigation soon draws him to Washington, where he lands in the middle of a bitter Presidential campaign.

Once again, Ben Kane finds himself reshaping the nation's political landscape...

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 588 KB
• Print Length: 393 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1419636308
• Publisher: Ten Mile Press; 2.01 edition (May 3, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003MNGH86
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #281,173 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

I started my first novel sometime in mid-2000, on a Metro-North commuter train traveling into Manhattan, writing on my then new Mac Powerbook. The title stuck--The Third Revolution--but the rest of the work I'd completed was tossed out in early 2002 when I started the project anew. I completed that manuscript, found and worked with a professional editor, and, after spending about a year learning how not to attract a literary agent, I eventually took a chance on the then cutting edge publish-on-demand technology and got the book "out there." The first paperback edition of The Third Revolution appeared on Amazon (as well as in several local bricks-and mortar bookstores) in May of 2004. I have to admit, I liked the feeing.

Better than a decade later I'm still working on that same Mac Powerbook, and have somehow managed to write and publish five novels (The Third Revolution, Middle America, Little Birdies!, The Last Bartender and The Cenacle Scroll). As proof-positive that abject economic failure presents no impediment to the truly thickheaded, I'm presently working on a sixth, Aqua Vitae, which should be completed this year.

In my pre-MBA days, a time when I had ready access to fast motorcycles and sympathetic women, I worked as a bartender at the historic Peter Luger Steakhouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan, the El Morocco Club on Second Avenue, the infamous Diamond's Whisky Parlor in Flushing and poured shots-and-beers (and kept my head down) through several stabbings and the occasional gunfire at Pirate's Pub in Kew Gardens, Queens. Today I can be found plying my trade at Frogs End Tavern within the elegant Glenmere Mansion, an exclusive eighteen-room boutique hotel in Chester, NY. The motorcycles and women have yet to reemerge, but I remain ever hopeful in that regard.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars From A Montana Reader, August 29, 2006

By 

Craig Sprout "http://www.mtpolitics.net" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Middle America (Paperback)

In Book I, Ben Kane has declined to run for a second term as governor of Montana, and so is content to manage his restaurant, American Outback in Helena. Kane is still a popular figure in the region, and the former state Senate Majority leader is now the President of the confederation.

Kane is called to the Shining City by an offer. To bolster flagging restaurant figures, Kane is asked to manage a re-creation of the American Outback in the Shining City. He's given free reign, and his main duties are mainly keeping the books straight and putting in appearances.

Soon, Kane begins to suspect that all is not as it seems with the Shining City, and with the help of his friends begins to track down where all the money is going.

The money trail seems to lead, of all places, back to the IRS. Kane's close associate is kidnapped, and things begin to unravel for the conspirators.

In the Blackfoot region, a white buffalo is born. It is said to herald great change and a spiritual joining of native peoples. The Blackfoot, Crow and Sioux tribes decide to merge their separate herds into one enormous free-range herd. The three herds are joined right outside Shining City to a packed house.

Book I ends with the wrap-up of the financial goings-on at Shining City.

Book II covers the presidential election in the United States.

Ben's love interest is hired on as a campaign consultant to the president's campaign staff. The challenger is threating a blockade/boycott of the Middle American States as his platform, so Ben finds himself working with the sitting president to defeat a "common enemy."

Oh, yeah, and build a hydrogen powered railroad from Billings to Helena.

Think of The Third Revolution as an appetizer, and Middle America as the main course. Book I is story and character-driven, and is tough to put down. Book II has a little bit more of the philosophy that we found in The Third Revolution, but it leans more toward the political end of things, rather than the philosophical.

I enjoyed this book immensely. Reading the two novels back to back, I really thought that Lewis hit his stride with Middle America. While good, The Third Revolution felt like a first novel, but Middle America showed that he learned from the experience and took it to the next level. The only gripe I had was that I felt the financial conspiracy story line left some loose ends.

This was a fun read, made doubly so because of the setting. When reading about the gang taking a motorcycle trip to Shining City, I couldn't help but thinking, "Hells bells, I'da gone the other way -- better drive and less traffic." But that's what makes it fun.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Sequel, March 10, 2008

By 

Idahobob - See all my reviews

This review is from: Middle America (Paperback)

Ya know, If Anthony Lewis writes many more books like this one and the one before it, (The Third Revolution), I am going to begin suffering from sleep deprivation. LOL!! Again, with Middle America, I could not put it down.
Great writing, great characters, great story.
For me, fiction needs to be plausible for me to enjoy it.
Mr. Lewis has got the reality factor down pat.
More, more, we want more!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, September 2, 2010

By 

A. Howard (San Diego, ca) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Middle America (Paperback)

Really enjoyed this and it was a wonderfuly sequal to The Third Revolution. In many ways I found it to be a much better book and have already started reading it again. Hopefully he will continue the story!