In life, one must learn to play the bad lies as well as the good ones.
1937… Akron, Ohio, known by some G-men as the toughest town in the nation, is a noxious, dirty city in a perpetual snow globe of soot and the stink of burning tires.
Yet, that smell means money, and eighteen-year-old Deet Jenkins has just graduated to his second station in life—rubber worker in one of Akron’s numerous tire-producing factories. From his Cleveland relatives, who are sympathetic to Adolph Hitler’s fascism to rumors of communists within his tire-building plant, democracy is on trial, and he’s surrounded by more political intrigue than he could ever imagine. He receives a different kind of education from the one he got at Central High. He learns what it takes to become a good union man. He also must learn to navigate a course to protect his family and his girlfriend. When everything seems to be falling apart, the F.B.I. bursts into his life and throws him a curveball. He does everything he can to keep from striking out.
