The Last Integrationist

Attorney General Melvin Hutchinson, who's black, is President Troy McCracken's first choice to fill the vacant vice presidency after the current veep suffers a stroke. Hutchinson is a living symbol of law and order in this near-future America, where executions are televised live and the Justice Department has established boot camps called DRCs (Drug Reeducation Centers) to stop inner-city crime. In a brilliantly effective device, using Hutchinson and his niece Emma as the main characters, Lamar examines relationships between the races through interracial romance-primarily Emma's with her Jewish boyfriend, Seth Winkler, but also through an interracial affair that left Hutchinson with a devastating secret.