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The Great Divide
In the hallowed halls of the capital, some who have sworn to preserve our nation's union are secretly plotting its demise ... and they are willing to kill to achieve their goals.
The country has been split into two distinct factions over energy - "the haves" (those states that are fuel self-sufficient) and "the have nots". The inept execution of a flawed foreign policy in the Middle East has resulted in an Arab-backed oil embargo of the United States.
Now the country is in the grips of the most severe winter in years, and rationing has led to unrest and rioting in the streets ¿ and certain politicians and business power brokers are ready to make a move.
As masses freeze in Chicago and the northeast, fuel-sufficient sunbelt conspirators seek to separate themselves from the rest of the nation, make their own foreign policy, and govern by their own rules¿and to do it they will resort to blackmail, bribery, and even murder.
The Constitution is only a stumbling block, and it can be amended.
The United States will be united no more.
The country has been split into two distinct factions over energy - "the haves" (those states that are fuel self-sufficient) and "the have nots". The inept execution of a flawed foreign policy in the Middle East has resulted in an Arab-backed oil embargo of the United States.
Now the country is in the grips of the most severe winter in years, and rationing has led to unrest and rioting in the streets ¿ and certain politicians and business power brokers are ready to make a move.
As masses freeze in Chicago and the northeast, fuel-sufficient sunbelt conspirators seek to separate themselves from the rest of the nation, make their own foreign policy, and govern by their own rules¿and to do it they will resort to blackmail, bribery, and even murder.
The Constitution is only a stumbling block, and it can be amended.
The United States will be united no more.
303 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1982
2 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Frank M. Robinson
122 books59 followersFrank M. Robinson was an American science fiction and techno-thriller writer. he got his start writing for the old pulp fiction magazines. He wrote several novels with Thomas N. Scortia until Scortia's death in 1986.
Born in Chicago, Illinois. Robinson was the son of a check forger. He started out in his teens working as a copy boy for International News Service and then became an office boy for Ziff Davis. He was drafted into the Navy for World War II, and when his tour was over attended Beloit College, where he majored in physics, graduating in 1950. Because he could find no work as a writer, he ended up back in the Navy to serve in Korea, where he kept writing, read a lot, and published in Astounding magazine.
After the Navy, he attended graduate school in journalism, then worked for a Chicago-based Sunday supplement. Soon he switched to Science Digest, where he worked from 1956 to 1959. From there, he moved into men's magazines: Rogue (1959–65) and Cavalier (1965–66). In 1969, Playboy asked him to take over the Playboy Advisor column. He remained there until 1973, when he left to write full-time.
After moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, Robinson, who was gay, was a speechwriter for gay politician Harvey Milk; he had a small role in the film Milk. After Milk's assassination, Robinson was co-executor, with Scott Smith, of Milk's last will and testament.
Robinson is the author of 16 books, the editor of two others, and has penned numerous articles. Three of his novels have been made into movies. The Power (1956) was a supernatural science fiction and government conspiracy novel about people with superhuman skills, filmed in 1968 as The Power. The Glass Inferno, co-written with Thomas N. Scortia, was combined with Richard Martin Stern's The Tower to produce the 1974 movie The Towering Inferno. The Gold Crew, also co-written Scortia, was a nuclear threat thriller filmed as an NBC miniseries and re-titled The Fifth Missile.
He collaborated on several other works with Scortia, including The Prometheus Crisis, The Nightmare Factor, and Blow-Out.
In 2009 he was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame
Born in Chicago, Illinois. Robinson was the son of a check forger. He started out in his teens working as a copy boy for International News Service and then became an office boy for Ziff Davis. He was drafted into the Navy for World War II, and when his tour was over attended Beloit College, where he majored in physics, graduating in 1950. Because he could find no work as a writer, he ended up back in the Navy to serve in Korea, where he kept writing, read a lot, and published in Astounding magazine.
After the Navy, he attended graduate school in journalism, then worked for a Chicago-based Sunday supplement. Soon he switched to Science Digest, where he worked from 1956 to 1959. From there, he moved into men's magazines: Rogue (1959–65) and Cavalier (1965–66). In 1969, Playboy asked him to take over the Playboy Advisor column. He remained there until 1973, when he left to write full-time.
After moving to San Francisco in the 1970s, Robinson, who was gay, was a speechwriter for gay politician Harvey Milk; he had a small role in the film Milk. After Milk's assassination, Robinson was co-executor, with Scott Smith, of Milk's last will and testament.
Robinson is the author of 16 books, the editor of two others, and has penned numerous articles. Three of his novels have been made into movies. The Power (1956) was a supernatural science fiction and government conspiracy novel about people with superhuman skills, filmed in 1968 as The Power. The Glass Inferno, co-written with Thomas N. Scortia, was combined with Richard Martin Stern's The Tower to produce the 1974 movie The Towering Inferno. The Gold Crew, also co-written Scortia, was a nuclear threat thriller filmed as an NBC miniseries and re-titled The Fifth Missile.
He collaborated on several other works with Scortia, including The Prometheus Crisis, The Nightmare Factor, and Blow-Out.
In 2009 he was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 3, 2018
Frank M. Robinson and John F. Levin were the co-authors of The Great Divide in this political fiction thriller set in 1982. They choose the memory of the civil war and the great depression to be similar to the events in this story. The plot is quite similar to what goes on in Washington D.C. today with different politicians fighting it out to promote their ideas along with some members of the Arab community that are upset with the political climate in the United States. If you live in the Mid-West and feel people like your brother who lives on the West Coast are your enemy, then this is the book for you.
June 17, 2012
Though in the end it only get's 3 stars, for being somewhat tedious at times, I still flew through this book, couldn't put it down. I'm not usually into political thrillers, but this was a good one.
December 29, 2013
not so bad
June 18, 2014
interesting situation.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews