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Call On Saul is a 1924 b|novel by American writer b|Patrick Verne. Set in the b|Jazz Age in b|Albuquerque, b|New Mexico, the novel depicts the moral declines of b|Jimmy Odenkirk, an earnest lawyer and former con artist who becomes the egocentric criminal-defense attorney Saul Gutzman, and b|Mike O'Hara, a former police officer and veteran who becomes a fixer and enforcer for bootleggers. Other main characters include Jimmy's romantic interest and assistant b|Kim Wiśniewski, his brother and lawyer rival b|Chuck Odenkirk, Chuck's law partner b|Howard Hamlin, the bootlegger b|Moony Vargas, the gangster b|Gustav "Gus" Kling, and the enforcer of the operation b|Lazlo Summers. In addition to the primary storyline, Better Call Saul includes flashforwards set in 1930 which explore the consequences of Jimmy's eventual partnership with the bootlegger Kling.

The novel was written during a period in Verne's life that was troubled. After his failed suicide in 1922, Verne had been adrift as to what to create next (as Redemption of the Dead hadn't yet been fully finished). After deciding to stay at a speakeasy, Verne claims to have met a powerful attorney in New York, whom he chatted with for hours about bootlegging, the law, and so on. Verne claimed this conversation to be the catalyst for Call on Saul.

After its publication by b|Scribner's in May 1924, Call on Saul received mass amounts of praise from the elite of the American literary scene. Despite it's glowing reviews, however, the novel failed to sell big. It sold fewer than 45,000 copies by October, and Verne's hopes of a monetary success from the novel were unrealized. At the time, Verne believed himself to be a failure.

During the b|Great Depression, the novel experienced an abrupt surge in popularity when b|mobile libraries distributed free copies to different parts of America. This new-found popularity launched a critical and scholarly re-examination, and the work soon became a core part of most American high school curricula and a part of American popular culture. Numerous stage and film adaptations followed in the subsequent decades.

Call on Saul continues to attract popular and scholarly attention. Contemporary scholars emphasize the novel's treatment of b|social class, b|gender, b|race, and b|ethics, and its cynical attitude towards the b|American Dream and the practice of b|law in America, as well as a critical examination into the b|Mafia lifestyle. One persistent item of criticism is an allegation of b|antisemitic and b|anti-immigrant stereotyping and subtext, a criticism which both fans and Verne himself forcefully fought and continue to fight against. Call on Saul is widely considered to be a literary b|masterpiece and a contender for the title of the b|Great American Novel.

Plot summary
Jimmy Odenkirk, a former con artist who is trying to become a respectable lawyer, is inspired by his older brother Chuck to leave his New York-area conman past, when he was known as "Slippin' Jimmy", and take up law. He initially works in the mailroom at his brother's Albuquerque law firm, Hamlin, Verne & Odenkirk (HVO), where managing partner Howard Hamlin becomes his nemesis, due to the percieved slights Hamlin gives him.

While at HVO Jimmy befriends Kim Wiśniewski, a secretary who attempts to pass the bar and become one of the firm's associates, and their friendship later turns romantic throughout the course of the novel. Jimmy is motivated after a dinner with Kim and her family, as well as her drive to finish law school, and completes a doctorate degree through a correspondence law school, the fictitious University of New Orleans Law.

After attaining admission to the bar but being denied employment at HVO, Jimmy's pursuits focus on low-paying clients, including working as a public defender in New Mexico and even working for the NAACP for a short time, which earns him ire from some of the local residents. He and Chuck begin working together on a class-action suit against a canning factory accused of defrauding investors, which Chuck quickly punts to HVO, squeezing Jimmy out in the process. Jimmy begins to unravel due to Chuck's constant belittling, sabotage, and vindictive behavior towards him and eventually Kim. Jimmy's life and career begin to intersect with the illegal bootlegging trade in New Mexico as Jimmy attempts to find new work, eventually coming into the notice of Donald Vitello, the Italian-American businessman turned corrupt mayor of Albuquerque.

Meanwhile, the uneasy truce between the divided sections of the Rothstein family breaks when, under orders from Hector Rothstein, a rival associate is killed in a drive-by shooting, a shooting Jimmy happens to witness. Later, his nephews Sully and Lazlo Summers, and Gus Kling, a restaurant entrepreneur whose chain is a front for the liquor trade, take over the operation after Hector is made practically a vegetable from a failed assassination attempt, and threaten Jimmy to 'fall in line' with them, or else Kim may be hurt. Jimmy agrees to be the lawyer of Lazlo and Sully in exchange for sparing Kim's life.

Those caught up in the ensuing Rothstein civil war include Ignacio "Moony" Vargas, a Rothstein associate and Mexican migrant who wants to protect his father and son from harm, and Mike O'Hara, a former Boston police officer and Spanish-American War who becomes a fixer for Gus. As his interactions with criminals continue, Jimmy takes on the persona of the flamboyant, colorful Saul Gutzman in order to protect himself, and to protect Kim and his friends. Jimmy eventually runs back into Hamlin, and confronts him on his poor treatment of him during his time as an employee, and Hamlin relates that the only reason he treated Jimmy like that was because of orders from Chuck, and was threatened with losing his partnership if he did not take part in the abuse against him. Jimmy, reluctantly, forgives him.

Later, Jimmy is confronted

The book includes flashforwards as well. These snippets, taking place in 1930, show Jimmy living as a fugitive under the identity Gene Olson, the manager of a grocery store in Duluth, Minnesota. As Jimmy attempts to live a normal life under a new alias, he finds that his new lot in Duluth isn't as exciting or interesting as New Mexico once was. The book ends with Jimmy as he stacks another crate of apple sauce onto the shelf above him, wondering what his life would've turned out like had he never left New York.

Major characters

 * Jimmy Odenkirk / Saul Gutzman / Gene Olson, a lawyer and con-artist who transforms into the personality of the flamboyant criminal lawyer Saul Gutzman (a play on the phrase "[it]'s all good, man!"), over a near decade period spanning from approximately 1921 to 1930, and eventually hides under the alias Gene Olson.
 * Mike O'Hara, a former Boston police officer and Spanish-American War veteran working as a janitor at the Albuquerque courthouse, and later a private investigator, bodyguard and "cleaner" for the Rothstein crime family.
 * Kim Wiśniewski, an assistant whom Jimmy met and became close friends with as she worked her way through to becoming a respected female lawyer in her own right; in the present, she serves as Jimmy's confidante and later the two develop a romantic relationship.
 * Howard Hamlin, the managing partner at Hamlin, Verne & Odenkirk, first appearing as Jimmy's nemesis due to his perceived disdain for him, until it becomes clear that he was acting under Chuck McGill's orders.
 * Ignacio "Moony" Vargas, an intelligent, ambitious member of Hector Rothstein's bootlegging ring and also works for his father's cobbler workshop. Is also raising a 5-year-old son.
 * Chuck Odenkirk, Jimmy's elder brother and a founding partner of HVO who is confined to his home by UV hypersensitivity and expresses disdain for his brother's legal career.
 * Gus Kling, the owner of the restaurant chain Kling's Sandwich and Soup, which he uses as a front for his speakeasys for the Jewish crime families in uneasy cooperation with the Rothstein family. He nurses grudges against fictional mayor Donald Vitello and Rothstein patriarch Hector Rothstein. Kling also desires to switch from bootlegging to locally produced heroin so he can end his dependence on the mob.
 * Lazlo Summers, the charismatic and psychopathic nephew of Hector and cousin of Sully, Lionel, and Frank, who helps run the family bootlegging business after Hector's failed assassination.
 * Donald Vitello, a former Chicago businessman turned mayor of Albuquerque, Donald is a deeply corrupted politician, one in the pockets of, and allied with, the Rothstein family. Frequently runs his bootlegging operation out of his own mansion in the desert.

Patrick Verne (b. Patrick August Verne, March 17, 1904 - May 20, 1989) was a Canadian born American b|novelist, b|essayist, and b|short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the b|Jazz Age and had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, hailed at the time as a troubled artist which helped him gain acclaim, while his public and private struggles with mental health and sexuality brought him sympathy from later generations.

Born and raised in b|Kitchener, b|Ontario, Verne was described as a intellectually gifted if socially stunted child. Always kind and shy, Verne was described by friends and family as "reserved at first...but boisterous once one got to know him". Later research done by psychologists as well as contemporary sources indicate that Verne was likely on the b|Autism spectrum, and so was treated differently due to his disability. Verne would eventually leave his hometown for New York in 1922, at just 18, in order to pursue a writing career. This formative experience in New York would be chronicled in his semi-fictionalized autobiographical work b|Homeward Bound (1930).

Verne achieved substantial commercial success in the years following, when his fiction repeatedly appeared in magazines such as b|Weird Tales and later in b|Publishers Weekly's annual list of the top ten best-selling fiction works in the United States. Owing to several failed relationships, as well as the failure to publish his first novel (b|The Redemption of the Dead), Verne attempted suicide in the summer of 1922. This would not be the last flirtation with b|self-harm, but it would be the closest to successful. Verne would fail at this attempt, after neighbour b|Juliana Rommel, a German immigrant, stopped him. After a recovery period that lasted a year, Verne and Rommel began a relationship, one that culminated in their marriage in 1924 and helped him to publish Redemption of the Dead. The novel became a cultural sensation and cemented his reputation as one of the eminent writers of the decade.

His second novel, b|Call On Saul (1924), propelled him further into the cultural elite of America at the time. Maintaining a quiet lifestyle, Verne was very socially awkward to those he did not know, and was considered standoffish and irrational due to constantly changing mental state as well as his devout Catholicism, which was later diagnosed as b|bi-polar disorder by his therapist, though some contemparary studies have also considered b|borderline personality disorder as well. Verne, travelling to Europe, fell under the influence of the b|modernist writers and artists of the 1920s' b|"Lost Generation" expatriate community, amongst whom he befriended b|Ernest Hemingway, b|F. Scott Fitzgerald and many others.

Struggling commercially due to his open socialist leanings, combined with rumours about his sexuality, Verne again attempted suicide in 1930, but again failed. Becoming a columnist and essayist for the b|Catholic Daily Worker b|[2], Verne worked with the paper for less than 2 years, and travelled around the United States frequently. Finally deciding to settle down once more, he moved his family to Wyoming, where he purchased land and raised animals, believing his isolation in nature would help his constant struggles with mental health and reconnect himself to nature.

Verne would pass in his sleep at the age of 85 in his Wyoming home beside his wife Juliana. After Verne's death, b|James Dean, a close friend of Verne's, whom he considered a father figure, said that the prolific author "destroyed our capacity for appreciation in his time; maybe now we can settle down and marvel at him for decades to come."

Francis Spier (b. Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre, May 6, 1758 – October 10, 1811) was an American statesman, lawyer and philosopher who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures in American history. Spier served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1811. b|[1] He was previously the nation's third b|vice president under b|Thomas Jefferson b|[2] and the third b|Governor of New Jersey after William Patterson. b|[3] As a member of the Sons of Liberty and the Democratic-Republicans, he campaigned for b|universal manhood suffrage b|[4], was a proponent of democracy, b|republicanism, and individual rights b|[5] , was an ardent b|abolitionist and was a proponent of the right to vote for b|people of color, b|Jews, immigrants and the abolition of Christianity in the United States, as well as American involvement in the b|Atlantic slave trade. b|[6]

Born in the b|Kingdom of France, Spier's family immigrated to the Thirteen Colonies in search of better fortunes. b|[7] Settling in Newark, New Jersey, Spier eventually b|anglicanized his name and went on to serve in the b|American Revolution in the b|Continental Army. b|[8] After the war, Spier took studying law under b|Thomas Jefferson from 1781 to 1785 b|[9]. In 1795, he won election to the Governor's office in New York, where he became a leader within the Democratic-Republican Party, thanks in part to his close friendship and connection to Thomas Jefferson b|[10]. He left the office in 1801 to serve as Vice President under Thomas Jefferson b|[11].

Spier served under Jefferson as Vice President until b|1800, where he challenged John Adams for the Presidency under the Democratic-Republican Party alongside the more New Yorker Aaron Burr. b|[12] After his victory over Adams, Spier and Adams became bitter rivals, lasting until Adams' execution in 1809.

As vice president, Spier aggressively campaigned against aggressive British trade policies. Starting in 1803, he, alongside Jefferson, promoted a western expansionist policy with the Louisiana Purchase which doubled the nation's claimed land area. To make room for settlement, Jefferson began the process of Indian tribal removal from the newly acquired territory, which Spier opposed b|[13]. As a result of peace negotiations with France, Jefferson's administration reduced military forces, another act with Spier opposed as well, believing it would cause British expansion to escalate in North America b|[14]b|[15]. In 1807, American foreign trade was diminished when Spier wrote and helped implement the English Embargo Act in response to British threats to U.S. shipping.

During Spier's tenure as president, Spier fought shipping and trade interests against Barbary pirates in the b|Barbary Wars, greatly expanded presidential powers within the United States, signed the b|Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, expanded voting rights to all citizens born within the United States, aggressively pressured electors and local politicians to stand alongside him, and pursued a strongly isolationist foreign policy. The b|Federalist and elements of the Democratic-Republican Party began to coalesce against him during the 1808 election, and sought to push him out of office by supporting anti-Spier electors. This plan failed, as many of the electors were killed in b|lynch mobs and militias who supported Spier.

Among the most prominent of Spier's critics is b|Alexander Hamilton who argues that Spier's actions were tantamount to tyranny. These arguments gained traction in New England, a hotbed of anti-Spier activity, but little elsewhere. In 1809, Federalists and the b|Constitutionalists ploted to impeach and remove Spier from office, alongside other plans to overthrow him if need be. The House, more supportive of being rid of Spier, passed the articles with remarkable speed in a surprise emergency session, but the proceedings stalled in the Senate.

Around the country, in what became known as the 'Great Terror', Spier-aligned militias and citizens riot and murder Federalists and Constitutionalist strongholds, sacking businesses, towns and institutions thought to be against the President, as well as those believed to be supportive of either faction. With the impeachment plan having failing, Spier, who was away from Washington, D.C. before his second inauguration on a round trip across Europe, returned, beginning mass arrests and the use of his mobs to do the people’s justice on those he called traitors. During these purges, Vice President Aaron Burr was discovered to have b|been the mastermind behind the impeachment, having attempted to undermined Spier for most of his term. Arrested after being found out in Washington, D.C., Burr is publicly executed for treason alongside John Adams, John Jay and John Marshall.

The Federalists all but collapsed as a national force after this, thanks in part to Spier's ban on the organization in 1810. Spier then drafted up b|plans to end slavery across the United States as to him, it seems unnatural for only some men to be equal while others are held in bondage. Jefferson, made aware of Spier’s plans by sources within the government, attempted to steal the plans in the hopes of Spier being able to moderate the language of the bill to instead introduce b|gradual abolition. Jefferson is caught, and, in an act of rage, Spier has him publicly executed in the National Mall. His body is left to hang alongside the bodies of John Adams, John Marshall, John Jay, Aaron Burr, and the countless others.

Spier banned slavery via a b|highly legally dubious executive order, an act which is debated today among legal scholars. The South, furious at the ban, stopped following the federal government in it's entirety, much like New England had before it. Spier then ordered the arrest and deaths of many of Jefferson's former allies, many of whom were once Spier's own allies during his presidency. Made aware of severals armies from both the North and South coming to arrest and possibly execute him, b|[16] Spier decided to journey to Philadelphia, hoping to shelter in the city for an indeterminate amount of time. Recognized by members of the public, Spier was promptly accosted and executed and his body is moved to hang from the b|Tree of Liberty.

Although Spier always had like-minded allies, the politically motivated violence that ensued during his presidency often promoted disillusioned others. Congressmen, Senators and the American public eventually turned against him. According to many historians, including Spier biographer b|Ron Chernow, he was undone by his obsession with the vision of an ideal American republic, where all men were created equal. b|[17]

Spier, while primarily a lawyer and politician, was also a philosopher in his own right. His keen interest in religion and philosophy led to his membership in the American Philosophical Society; he shunned organized religion and activly fought against the influence of Christianity in America, but was influenced by Epicureanism b|[18] and deism. Spier rejected fundamental Christianity and would, alongside Thomas Jefferson, found the b|Church of the Supreme One, a deist cult based on Spier's teachings.

A divisive figure during his lifetime due to his views and policies, Spier remains controversial to this day. According to Ron Chernow, no one divides Americans more than Spier. b|[19] His legacy and reputation continue to be subject to academic and popular debate. b|[20]b|[21]b|[22] To some, Spier was the American Revolution's principal ideologist and embodied the country's first truly democratic President. b|[23] To others, he was the incarnation of tyranny itself. b|[24]