A SHADE OF DIFFERENCE
FICTION: A Shade of Difference – Alan Drury/Avon – 1962
This political novel follows ADVISE AND CONSENT in Drury’s trilogy. I just finished this 800+page saga in paperback and although it was quite absorbing, it was murder on the eyes.
It’s fascinating to read this over-forty-year-old book and compare it to contemporary political life and world problems. Drury’s plot is quite interesting, involving the U.N., the U.S. administration, emerging African nations and our own racial strife in America. Set in the height of Cold War tensions, we meet His Royal Highness Terence Wolowo Ajkaje, the M’Bulu of Mbeuele (Terrible Terry), who has come to power by suspicious circumstances. He and the Panamanian Ambassador to the U.N., Felix Labaiya (driven by his own ambitions and hatred of the United States, conspire to propose a U.N. resolution granting immediate independence to Terry’s homeland, Gorotoland, in Africa. This British colony has already been slated for self rule in another year. The pair want to force the issue in the midst of the other emerging African nations. There is a lot of support for this at the U.N., especially from the non-white countries.
The very colorful Terry arrives at the U.N. and makes quite a splash. He has been schooled in England and at Harvard. He is arrogant. Once he hits the headlines, he is helped along by another political aspirant here and is scheduled to be honored in South Carolina. He invites himself to the White House but learns that the president will be away. He considers this a terrible affront and much is made of this in the press.
Enter Rep. Cullee Hamilton, a black man representing his California district. He is part of the U.N. delegation and is recruited for damage control. He is to accompany His Highness to South Carolina, a hotbed in the beginning of the civil rights era. When a desegregation order is being carried out in South Carolina, Terrible Terry jumps in and walks a black girl into the school building. He is pelted with rotten fruit and eggs and his traditional robes are ruined. Cullee Hamilton, a man of reason, patience and abiding patriotism is mortified. He is torn by impatient fellow Black people, his own wife included and by his moderate position in the unfolding civil rights saga. The administration decides that Cullee should be in the forefront of what is becoming a worldwide scandal, accusing the United States of hypocrisy and centuries of racism.
The book goes on, including many colorful characters.
I found this work to be compelling and I learned a lot about both our Congress and the United Nations.
It is clear that Drury was a conservative and opted for moving carefully in race relations and matters played out on the world stage. He did paint a wonderful portrait of the tug-of-war in the black community and the resistence to change in the country. Looking back at the state of affairs in 1962, it is at least rewarding that we currently have a black president, although we’re still far apart on race relations.
I think this book is worth reading. You may be disappointed by its conclusion, depending on your political stance, but you won’t be sorry you read it.
