THINE IS THE GLORY

A not slow but ever so steady transgenerational novel following the long life and times of one Scott Stewart and written for and at that middle common denominator. ""You know what a man of principle is?"" ""Yeah, I think so--a guy with money."" Actually it's more a matter of principle than money with Scott, an overserious boy before the suicide of his father, and as somber as a mortician as he begins to acquire great wealth (railroads) and rubs cold shoulders with Carnegie, Rockefeller, Frick, etc. On the other hand his sister Lucinda (they will marry another brother and sister) has flair and independence and the capacity to enjoy both love and sex which brother Scott so notably lacks. The novel, as indicated above, goes resolutely down through the lives of the children and grandchildren with current events--be it the Thaw-Neshit-Sharp case or the Titanic or Prohibition--as inserts. Reading about someone like Scott Stewart, indentured to his non-pleasure principle, has to be more bread than butter, but the publishers have strong commercial hopes, most likely to be later redeemed in paperback.