In this incisive and uproarious satire on American politics, Condon turns his wicked eye on the “Imperial Presidency” with a real emperor ruling America in the not-too-distant future (which may already be upon us).

​

When a nuclear accident (or was it an accident?) destroys Washington DC, it’s up to an army colonel named Caesare Appleton to assume command of the nation – or at least he thinks he’s in command.

 

While battling the Evil Empire of Nicaragua and plotting to convert Nantucket into a landing field for CIA planes carrying Colombian cocaine, he becomes both the master and the pawn of the omnipresent media. And the higher he rises the more he falls prey to his own uncontrollable urges for unavailable women, to his avaricious advisers, to his scheming siblings – and to his manipulative mother.

​

With the keen wit that has made him a best-selling author for 30 years, Condon spins a political fable that is both hilariously fantastic and bitingly real.