He Walked Among Us — Paul Fleischman

The country has been swallowed by the Great Depression 2.0, complete with apple-sellers and Bruce Springsteen singing Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime on the radio. The Republican incumbent -- battling his high-living wife, a populist opponent, and the accurate perception that he's rich and removed -- has no choice but to follow his handlers' advice: cross the country incognito, living and working among his people for twelve days in a desperate bid to seem attuned to their plight. With secret cameras rolling and his bickering speechwriters composing his diary, he sets off on a trip that will defy the best-laid plans of K Street's finest. Repackaging a candidate and his family has never been so challenging -- or painfully funny. From hobo jungles filled with middle management to sidewalks crowded with panhandling schtik-savants, HE WALKED AMONG US is a wickedly gleeful romp across the country and its political landscape.