Inside, Outside

From Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Herman Wouk, Inside, Outside is a rich and compelling story—beautifully focused and often hilarious.

Israel David Goodkind is a minor bureaucrat in the Nixon White House, killing empty office time by writing the story of four generations of his large, sprawling Russian Jewish immigrant family. As he recounts his brief stint in show business, his torrid affair with a showgirl, and his encounters with a hassled and distracted President Nixon, Goodkind also witnesses historical events firsthand—the Watergate scandal, the Yom Kippur War—and eventually finds his way back to his Jewish faith.

Combining Wouk's wildly funny streak with deeply religious passages—and some intensely intimate romantic scenes rare in this reticent author's work—Inside, Outside is a striking departure from the traditional storytelling mode in which the author has won international fame, and yet it may be the most truly characteristic of all his writings. Written in the first person in a free-form, often ribald style, playing antic tricks with time, it offers all the passion, depth, historical detail, and humor that has made Wouk a best-selling author around the world.