Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

Universally acclaimed when first published in 1955, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit captured the mood of a generation. Its title — like Catch-22 and Fahrenheit 451 — has become a part of America's cultural vocabulary. Tom Rath doesn't want anything extraordinary out of life: just a decent home, enough money to support his family, and a career that won't crush his spirit. After returning from World War II, he takes a PR job at a television network. It is inane, dehumanizing work. But when a series of personal crises force him to reexamine his priorities — and take responsibility for his past — he is finally moved to carve out an identity for himself. This is Sloan Wilson's searing indictment of a society that had just begun to lose touch with its citizens. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is a classic of American literature and the basis of the award-winning film starring Gregory Peck. "A consequential novel." — Saturday Review

Universally acclaimed when first published in 1955, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit captured the mood of a generation. Its title — like Catch-22 and Fahrenheit 451 — has become a part of America’s cultural vocabulary. Tom Rath doesn’t want anything extraordinary out of life: just a decent home, enough money to support his family, and a career that won’t crush his spirit. After returning from World War II, he takes a PR job at a television network. It is inane, dehumanizing work. But when a series of personal crises force him to reexamine his priorities — and take responsibility for his past — he is finally moved to carve out an identity for himself. This is Sloan Wilson’s searing indictment of a society that had just begun to lose touch with its citizens. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is a classic of American literature and the basis of the award-winning film starring Gregory Peck. “A consequential novel.” — Saturday Review

Publishers Weekly

Patrick Lawlor evokes the mood of post-WWII America in this audio version of Wilson's classic novel. After returning from the war, Tom Rath attempts to reenter civilian life, while struggling financially and personally and working a dreary desk job at a television network. Lawlor's narration is well-paced, steady, and captures both the blunted emotion and plodding pace of bourgeois life in 1950s Southport, Conn. Lawlor produces a range of memorable voices for Wilson's characters--his version of the strident Mrs. Manter is particularly entertaining, while his energetic portrayal of network executive Ralph Hopkins and spot-on rendering of the devious family caretaker and the sagacious Judge Bernstein will delight listeners as the tension mounts and Rath's well-ordered life threatens to spiral out of control. A Da Capo paperback. (Aug.)

Sloan Wilson (1920-2003) was an American author who wrote novels, short stories, and poetry. Among his many works are the bestsellers The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and A Summer Place, Away from It All, Voyage to Somewhere, Ice Brothers, and Pacific Interlude. An AudioFile Earphones Award winner and Audie Award finalist, Patrick Lawlor is also an accomplished stage actor, director, and combat choreographer. His recent audio includes the New York Times bestseller The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell (Tantor). "Lawlor is masterful." -The Philadelphia Inquirer