{"product_id":"american-pied-piper-9798988406419","title":"American Pied Piper","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eAt the dawn of the 20\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003csup\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eth\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/sup\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e century, Beardstown, Illinois, is a city of contradiction. \u003c\/strong\u003eA town of river rats, gamblers, and rail-yard workers, it's also filled with the accoutrements and refinements that accompany wealth . . . whatever its provenance. In Beardstown, the God-fearing don't just live side-by-side with the sinners-they often are the sinners.\u003cbr\u003eThroughout the first half of the century, the state's attorney is always a McHugh, a Beardstown family that has spent generations fostering the town's prosperity by keeping the balance between virtue and vice. For the McHughs, knowing when to look the other way is half the job. But when the young, Yale-educated Milt McHugh returns from WWII to take up his father's position, he approaches the role with a very different sense of morality, as well as a desire to clean the town's slate for good-public opinion be damned.\u003cbr\u003eForty years later, Milt is faced with a town in decline and the prospective fraud trial of a gaggle of corrupt investors known as the \"Beardstown Ladies.\" As he looks back on his life, his work, and the town his courage and moral fiber has created, he wonders: Was the sacrifice of freedom at the altar of decency worth the price the town has paid?\u003cbr\u003eFollowing the people of Beardstown through a century of upheaval, renewal, and decay-and traveling from Prohibition-era Chicago to London and the Pacific during WWII to the soundstage of the \u003cem\u003ePhil Donohue Show\u003c\/em\u003e-\u003cem\u003eAmerican Pied Piper\u003c\/em\u003e is the final chapter in a trilogy tracing the rise and fall of the American Midwest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-10750490\"\u003eSam Foster\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Agave Americana Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/10\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 340\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.28lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.88d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798988406419\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLarge Print\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC008000\"\u003eSagas\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC014090\"\u003eHistorical | 20th Century | Post-World War II\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-FIC\"\u003eFiction\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-FIC037000\"\u003ePolitical\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Agave Americana Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48504526078189,"sku":"9798988406419","price":37.43,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/files\/img_f3f4f5b0-ddce-45db-b69d-06bae655e268.jpg?v=1754400189","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/american-pied-piper-9798988406419","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}