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And Lead Us Not
A high school dropout from the backwaters of Louisiana becomes President of the United States?
From the writer who is already drawing comparisons to Mark Twain, comes this new hilarious but thought-provoking novel by David Pierson.
Wally Zeringue, an entrepreneur who gains notoriety with his one-minute editorials that promote his Capitol Cards, wins the nomination as Vice President for a major political party. And, when the President-elect dies days before the Inauguration, Wally ascends to the highest office in the land.
The new President, however, has enemies in low places. One in particular is Dan Bitterman, a former classmate who is now a reporter for the Evangeline Press-Dispatch, the President’s hometown weekly newspaper.
With his two secret informants (Cassandra and Judas Iscariot), Dan uncovers dirt on the new President, and the nation’s intelligentsia join in as Dan turns out one expose after another.
Meanwhile, President Zeringue, a businessman who has never held elective office, implements radical changes in the way the country conducts its business.
This is a book that will have the reader laughing and then thinking, laughing and then thinking.
“And Lead Us Not is a novel I would have written if I were still alive.” –Mark Twain
Chapter Excerpt
I wrote And Lead Us Not twenty-five years ago. I thought the whole world would like it. I did.
But reality set in. The world of editors, publishers and literary agents did not jump at it. They said my political satire “wasn’t realistic,” “lacked verisimilitude” or “simply was not believable.”
One editor addressed the novel ideas my character, Wally Zeringue, proposes as President in the story. Although I showed a flair for writing, she said I lacked the expertise to make suggestions about how to save the nation from economic ruin. (In other words: “You’re a writer. Don’t think you can come up with solutions no one else has ever thought about.”)
In the end, with one rejection after another, I shelved the manuscript and went on to other writing projects.
Then something happened: Reality changed.
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“I laughed out loud as I read about the small-town Louisiana characters. . . The author has a keen ability to describe them and their environment in minute detail.” —Donna A. Pizanie