This Philip Roth satire of Nixon, published in 1971, hits its target with unerring aim and vicious humor. The final chapter, with the assassinated "Trick E. Dixon" in Hell running for office against Satan, brings the whole enterprise to a suitably grave conclusion. Throughout, the parodies of Eric Severeid (Erect Severehead), Billy Graham (Billy Cupcake), and others are dead-on. A mental search for writers who could execute such a brilliant satire today (against Donald Trump, say, or Hillary Clinton) comes up empty.
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