A student of history :a novel
Format
Book
Language
English (English)
Subjects
Publisher and Date
Brooklyn, New York :Akashic Books,[2019]
©2019
ISBN
9781617756634.
; 1617756636.
; 9781617756641.
; 1617756644.
Call Number
FICTION
Geographic Area Code
n-us-ca
Description
238 pages ;21 cm
System Control Number
(OCoLC)1088412708
SummaryRick Nagano is a graduate student in the history department at USC, struggling to make rent on his South Los Angeles apartment near the neighborhood where his family once lived. When he lands a job as a research assistant for the elderly Mrs. W--, the heir to an oil fortune, he sees it first simply as a source of extra cash. But as he grows closer to the iconoclastic, charming, and feisty Mrs. W--, he gets drawn into a world of privilege and wealth far different from his racially mixed, blue-collar beginnings. Putting aside his half-finished dissertation, Rick sets up office in Mrs. W--'s grand Bel Air mansion and begins to transcribe her journals - which document an old Los Angeles not described in his history books. He also accompanies Mrs. W-- to venues frequented by the descendants of the land and oil barons who built the city. One evening, at an event, he meets Fiona Morgan - the elegant scion of an old steel family - who takes an interest in his studies. Irresistibly drawn to Fiona, he agrees to help her with a project of questionable merit in the hopes he'll win her favor. A Student of History explores both the beginnings of Los Angeles and the present-day dynamics of race and class. It offers a window into the usually hidden world of high society, and the influence of historic families on current events. Like Great Expectations and The Great Gatsby, it features, in Rick Nagano, a young man of modest means who is navigating a world where he doesn't belong.
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Monroe PL-Green County,
Adult:
F REV
Cambridge Community Library,
Adult:
FIC REVOYR