Set in Texas, The Gay Place consists of three interlocking novels, each with a different protagonist—a member of the state legislature, the state"s junior senator, and the governor"s press secretary. The governor himself, Arthur Fenstemaker, a master politician, infinitely canny and seductive, remains the dominant figure throughout. Billy Lee Brammer—who served on Lyndon Johnson"s staff—gives us here "the excitement of a political carnival: the sideshows, the freaks, and the ghoulish comedy atmosphere" (Saturday Review). Originally published in 1961, The Gay Place is at once a cult classic and a major American novel.