The Shad Treatment

by Garrett Epps

The Shad Treatment vividly chronicles politics during the Byrd regime's decline in the 1970s. Fiery populist Thomas Jefferson "Tom Jeff" Shadwell is leading a "people's crusade" to liberate the Virginia Governor's Mansion from the grip of the conservative political machine that has controlled the state for fifty years. Against him are ranged the powerful forces that have kept the state back for so long - unreconstructed race-baiting politicians, gentleman farmers, giant corporations, and the "best families." The campaign promises to be the toughest, dirtiest, and most brutal in decades.

444 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Garrett Epps (born in 1950 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American legal scholar, novelist, and journalist. He is Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore; previously he was the Orlando J. and Marian H. Hollis Professor of Law at the University of Oregon.

Epps attended St. Christopher's School and Harvard College, where he was the President of The Harvard Crimson. He later received an M.A. in Creative Writing from Hollins University, and a law degree from Duke University, where he was first in his class. After graduation from Harvard, he was a co-founder of The Richmond Mercury, a short-lived alternative weekly whose alumni include Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Frank Rich and Glenn Frankel. He also worked as an editor or reporter for The Richmond Afro-American, The Virginia Churchman, The Free-Lance Star, and The Washington Post. From 1983 until 1988, he was a columnist for Independent Weekly (then a bi-weekly). Immediately before coming to the University of Oregon, he spent a year clerking for the Honorable John D. Butzner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Epps has written two novels, including The Shad Treatment, which won the Lillian Smith Book Award, as well as the nonfiction books To An Unknown God: Religious Freedom on Trial, which was published in 2001 and was a finalist for the ABA's Silver Gavel Award, and Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Civil Rights in Post-Civil War America, which was published in 2006 and is the first comprehensive history of the framing of the Fourteenth Amendment. Democracy Reborn won the 2007 Oregon Book Award for non-fiction, and also was a finalist for the ABA Silver Gavel Award. He has also written numerous articles and editorials in newspapers including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic.

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a long time personal favorite, using a fictional gubernatiorial race in Virginia to explore attitudes and events in the Old Dominion. Those familar with Virginia politics will easily identify the fictional character with his or her real life inspiration. Mr. Epps has created a fine book for any reader. However, his descriptions of the people and geography of the Commonwealth, combined with the tapestry Mr. Epps has created by reweaving true events makes for a unique reading experience for anyone with an interest in Virginia history and politics.

[Terence · Rating 5 out of 5]

what "all the king's men" is to louisiana politics, "the shad treatment" is to the political history of virginia. while probably appreciated most by political junkies, it's truly a novel that can be enjoyed by any fan of great storytelling.

tpb

[Mshelton50 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Shad Treatment is Garrett Epps's loosely fictionalized account of the 1973 Virginia gubernatorial election. On one side is the last Byrd Machine governor, Miles Brock, a Democrat turned Republican. On the other side is populist State Senator Thomas Jefferson "Tom Jeff" Shadwell, a lawyer with working class roots. The novel's protagonist, young Mac Evans, is the son of Col. Joshua Tutelo Evans, a cultured, wealthy man who dared to challenge the Machine in the 1949 Democratic gubernatorial primary. Mac is also the brother of deceased Lt. Gov. Lester Evans, young, handsome and charming, whom everyone knew would have been elected Governor in 1973 if a brain tumor hadn't killed him at age 35.

The actual 1973 race, which was known for years as "Armageddon," would be decided by a mere 10,000 votes out of over 1 million cast. Mills Godwin, the Republican nominee and former governor, represented the corporate types, the bankers and the "country club" set. Henry Howell, the Independent candidate, ran on the slogan of "Keep the Big Boys Honest."

This book should be of interest to anyone with an interest in Virginia history. While the focus is the mid- to late-20th century, the book looks back to the Antebellum period and the Civil War. I enjoyed it very much.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Epps worked on the campaign for governor of Virginia by populist "Howlin'" Henry Howell in the 1970s and the book is a lightly fictionalized account of that historic campaign. The book provides an insider's view of the politics of a southern state in transition from its old Jim Crow political machine to whatever more biracial system would come next. But Epps's account will interest political junkies anywhere with its cast of characters from lovable scoundrels to disillusioned idealists along with a few realists who've been through the electoral ringer but still hew to the principles that attracted them to public service in their wide-eyed youth.

[Billy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Shad Treatment vividly chronicles politics during the Byrd regime's decline in the 1970s. Fiery populist Thomas Jefferson "Tom Jeff" Shadwell is leading a "people's crusade" to liberate the Virginia Governor's Mansion from the grip of the conservative political machine that has controlled the state for fifty years. Against him are ranged the powerful forces that have kept the state back for so long - unreconstructed race-baiting politicians, gentleman farmers, giant corporations, and the "best families." The campaign promises to be the toughest, dirtiest, and most brutal in decades.

This book created quite a stir around Richmond back in the day.

[Charles Conner · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.8/5

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a bit of a departure as I haven't read too many novels in recent years, but the hook was the resemblance of many of the characters to personalities or composites of personalities in early 1970's Virginia politics. That being said, if this isn't an area of fascination, the plot may seem fairly straight-forward and as such, it may not have much of an audience beyond the Commonwealth of Virginia.