Mark Coffin, U.S.S.

Mark Coffin of California was barely thirty years old when he won a startling upset victory in his race for a seat in the U.S. Senate. A bright, handsome, energetic idealist with the passion for decency in government, he thought his honesty and dedication would see him through anything.

But Washington, DC, was all too eager to teach him the hard lessons of gamesmanship and compromise. Neither Mark nor his wife were prepared for the world that Washington had in store for them: a bizarre sex scandal that would threaten to destroy not only Mark Coffin’s career and his personal life, but also all of the political reforms he was fighting so desperately to achieve.

First published in 1979, Mark Coffin, USS is a magnificent novel of Washington politics—an insider’s view of power at the top, shown through the eyes of vivid, fascinating, and humanly likable characters.