University of Virginia Press The Shad Treatment: A Novel (Virginia Bookshelf)

Inspired by events and personalities from the heated 1973 Virginia gubernatorial election, this novel takes readers into the smokey convention halls, and shabby campaign offices where the fate of candidates is decided. The campaign promises to be the toughest, dirtiest and most brutal for decades. From the Back Cover The Shad Treatment vividly chronicles politics during the Byrd regime's decline in the 1970s. Fiery populist Thomas Jefferson "Tom Jeff" Shadwell is leading a "people's crusade" to liberate the Virginia Governor's Mansion from the grip of the conservative political machine that has controlled the state for fifty years. Against him are ranged the powerful forces that have kept the state back for so long - unreconstructed race-baiting politicians, gentleman farmers, giant corporations, and the "best families". The campaign promises to be the toughest, dirtiest, and most brutal in decades.