Bitter Is the Wind

Do Americans live in a land of freedom and equality where people with vision, brains, and a strong work ethic can have rewarding lives? Or is ours a society where well-being, dignity, and independence are reserved for a narrow elite?

Bitter Is the Wind is a coming of age novel that traces the lives of George Johnson Jr. and his father from the rural blue-collar landscape of upstate New York in the 1970s to the halls of Wharton Business School and the heights of Wall Street. After a tragedy strengthens their familial bond, the Johnsons contend with assembly line monotony and unfulfilled dreams of baseball stardom, and they learn what it means to be tempted, trapped, jailed, and ignored by a seemingly uncaring God.

First time novelist Jim McDermott opens a window on the American working class and its aching desire for financial security, recognition, and respect. His characters confront a modern world with limited possibilities, ambiguous mores, and authorities who seem devoted to keeping the brightest and most talented members of the underclass on the other side of town. Bitter Is the Wind is a deft and timely deconstruction of the American Dream.

Author: Jim McDermott
Publisher: Rare Bird Books, a Vireo Book
Published: 03/14/2017
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.50d
ISBN13: 9781945572142
ISBN10: 1945572140
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Family Life | General
- Fiction | Small Town & Rural
- Fiction | Political

About the Author
Jim McDermott is a nationally recognized business litigation attorney based in Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his wife and two daughters. He has worked on an assembly line and also represented multinational corporations. He is a graduate of Syracuse University and the University of Virginia Law School. Bitter Is the Wind, which he worked on for twenty-five years, is his first novel.