Land of hope and glory

About this book

Land of Hope and Glory is the story of Marcus Aurelius Northway, a homeopathic physician in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century who becomes chief medical officer in the Spanish-American War, marries the widow of an oil magnate, and in the 1920s and 1930s consorts with Henry Ford, Thomas A. Edison and Luther Burbank. As the story moves from New York to Florida, to Ohio, and to California, General Northway, following the death of his wife, marries her nurse Ida Bailey, a strong blunt woman who tries to keep the old chauvinist honest with her and with himself. Though he has no heirs of his own, he attempts to control the destinies of the rest of the Northway family, particularly his namesake. As the nation manifests its destiny from Teddy Roosevelt through Warren G. Harding and beyond, Marcus strives to establish his fame as a healer, but he must fight the powerful medical influence of the "Regulars." Told with irony and humor, Land of Hope and Glory is a classic story of America in its time of incredible pride and self-assertion.