One man's memoir about a decade in Chicago. One story that's a hundred stories, about: -- The Great American Novel that never got written-- -- A young writer's introduction to big-agency advertising-- -- Ads and commercials and clients and bosses-- -- Hits and misses and triumphs and catastrophies-- -- A lovely young lady who became a supportive wife and mother-- -- Three young sons who kept both parents hopping-- -- Garrets and apartments and dream houses in the suburbs-- -- And an interesting look at America in the '50's from a front-row seat in the advertising that helped propel it. How it worked and didn't work, scored and struck out, rewarded and punished, and just about everything else.