Near future Earth and a new cold war is in full swing - the Dutch Cold War.

The US is a shadow of its former self and in hock to Europe, its infrastructure falling apart at the seams and with nomadic tribes roaming from state to state living according to no one's rules but their own. Oscar Valpariso, spin doctor to possibly the next president ,is only half human but if he can straighten out his love life and solve a worldwide crisis that only he has noticed, America should be ripe for the taking...

2000 Arthur C. Clarke Award