Three crises -- The anxiety of the overdog -- Annus mirabilis -- 1: Three young men -- Jack's favorite movie -- The transformation of a quaker boy -- Johnson at bay -- Interlude: the American scene -- Washington -- Brumidi's frescoes and film noir -- Ellis Island, the frontier, and the Taft-Hartley Act -- 2: Families -- The Johnsons of Texas -- The Kennedy's: John Buchan and a strange Irish anglophilia -- The Nixons of California -- Interlude: the world scene -- From society of necessity to society of choice -- Marshall -- Science and discoveries -- 3: Early 1948 -- Lyndon for sale -- Young, obscure and orthogonian -- Jack and Kick: May 1948 -- Interlude: questions of character -- The sinking of PT-109 -- The Caracas thesis -- LBJ's silver star -- 4: Late summer -- The Hiss case -- Lyndon vs. Coke.
