This work, published in 1964, is about the surprising accession of a black man to the office of the presidency of the United States after the unexpected deaths of the president, the vice-president and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1964, this would have been an amazing event, as the book demonstrates. I don't even remember (I was too young) if there were any black Americans in Congress at that time (John Lewis? not yet?). Now that we have had a black president who was popular enough to be elected to 2 terms in office, I suppose I must ask, as mentioned in the other review, whether this book is still relevant. I think the answer is unequivocally yes. "Bypassing" the color barrier with Barack Obama was certainly momentous, but we must acknowledge that Barack Obama was somehow able to relate to people of all races and nationalities possibly because of his experiences in a biracial family and maybe also because he was/is extremely charismatic and intelligent. However he still faced issue regarding his skin color — remember that some people claimed he wasn't American — and the color barrier still exists for most people.

Having said this, I only gave this book 3 1/2 stars because it took so long to get to the interesting points. By slowly and solidly building the backgrounds of the characters and the story, it took a lot of patience to get to the part where conflicts and matters of race were injected into the daily running of the country and caused so much difficulty for President Dilman. Nevertheless, by the time I finished the book, I found that I liked it very much. The question that needs to be asked on a regular basis is: how do our black brethren in this country feel about our white countrymen? And vice versa? Sadly, there is still so much racial violence. Can we ever become a colorblind society? What will it take to reach that goal? The outcome in the book is not perfect and it does not suggest that much progress will be made by having the first black president (at least in the 1960s) but the story gives us hope and suggests the value of all victories — large and small — towards that goal. ( )

Douglass Dilman. Senador. Americano. Preto. E agora, por uma série de tragédias acidentais vê-se no lugar de sucessor do Presidente dos Estados Unidos da América, na Casa Branca. Num tempo do Movimento dos Direitos Civis americanos, e da incerteza nuclear da guerra fria contra a União Soviética, Wallace leva-nos, através duma narrativa linear, quase cinemática, a pensar como as múltiplas personagens de que se compõe o livro.
O livro acaba com o julgamento de Dilman, que encapsula o julgamento à maturidade americana e capacidade de ultrapassar o estigma racista. Pelo caminho, acompanhamos a trama de todos os que rodeiam Dilman após a sua chegada à Sala Oval, desde os que o tentam manipular por interesses pessoais políticos, os que o tentam manipular por pertencerem à mesma minoria segregada e os que o tratam como inferior devido à pigmentação da sua pele. Com uma larga panóplia de personagens, de diferentes origens, raças e posições sociais, Wallace pinta um quadro social americano dos anos 60 suficientemente claro para qualquer um poder entender todas as pressões raciais e bélicas que se sentiam na altura. ( )

Now dated, Wallace covers the only believable scenario for a Black President in the 20th Century; multiple vacancies in the order of sucession puts Senator Dillman, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, into the White House. What follows is a standard mix of sex, politics, and racism, along with some interesting explorations into the best way to legally address racism with the legal system. ( )

ANAQUEL DEL CENTRO, GAVETA SUPERIOR.