A twentieth-century classic, Appointment in Samarra is the masterpiece by the writer Fran Leibowitz called "the real F. Scott Fitzgerald." In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville social circuit is electrified with parties and dances, where the music plays late into the night and the liquor flows freely. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English--the envy of friends and strangers alike. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction. With trademark verisimilitude, John O'Hara captures the personal politics and easy bitterness of small-town life in this first and most widely read of his books.
