An American Dream

War hero, ex-Congressman, television personality and husband of the rich and beautiful Deborah ('a girl who would have been bored by a diamond ring as big as the Ritz'), Stephen Rojack is living the American Dream - until the constant 'itch to jump' finally conquers him and he strangles his luscious wife, unleashing a personality of undreamt-of ferocity. Catapulted into an alien world of gangsters, crumbling tenements and downtown bars, Rojack meets Cherry, a small-time singer who ekes out a living in sleazy nightclubs, waiting for a break. Soon he's falling for her - dangerously, desperately, tragically... An American Dream shocked the USA on first publication in 1965 with its graphic scenes of sex and violence. A powerful exploration of one man's quest for depravity, it remains a key work of twentieth-century American literature.