{"product_id":"9781609382681","title":"The Very Air","description":"\u003cp\u003eLuther Mathias sells “snake oil” in scrubby West Texas dirt towns. He learns that substance is never a substitute for style and eventually develops his own remedies that promise to cure any ailment a man might suffer. In time, his imagination and ambition combine to mold him into medicine’s version of Elmer Gantry: loved and hated, imponderably wealthy and famous, powerful and pursued.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Very Air\u003c\/i\u003e is a compelling exploration of human motives and hidden meanings. It is a detailed picture of America’s myth of the rugged individual in the psychological and narrative tradition of \u003ci\u003eThe Great Gatsby\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCitizen Kane\u003c\/i\u003e. With a resonant sense of the period and culture, Douglas Bauer evokes the freewheeling feel of the old Southwest in the charlatans of our own era. \u003ci\u003eThe Very Air \u003c\/i\u003eshows, through storytelling both exhilarating and chilling, that the past is prologue and that our personal histories indeed shape the course of our individual futures.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Iowa Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47041738768624,"sku":"9781609382681","price":18.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781609382681_p0.jpg?v=1763841325","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781609382681","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}