The Chasm
A Novel by David Ainsworth
is the only novel that dissects the growing impact of the global economy on Americans.
About The Book
This novel tells the story of four young men whose lives intersect in compelling and ultimately tragic ways. Three of the men, one a Japanese exchange student, had been close friends as undergraduates at the University of Washington when in college and afterward when pursuing their careers, they had a running argument as to which of their chosen professions—finance, technology, or the law—would contribute the most to mankind's well-being in the future. The fourth young man is an African-American Gulf war vet whose life is a reaction to the forces of predation that surround him.
The novel follows the careers of each of the four men as their lives tangentially intersect and play out against the back story of globalization and the new pressures it creates among three of the world's biggest trading partners, the United States, Japan and the Peoples' Republic of China. Alex, the lawyer, devotes his energies and ambition to a Washington law firm with a prominent lobbying practice that too often serves predatory foreign interests. Billy, initially a highly successful programming wizard who develops cutting edge software for the movie industry, finds the demand for his skills withering as his industry inexorably outsources its technology work to Asia. Ichiro, a Western-oriented banking expert in the Japanese Ministry of Finance, is confronted with the intractable corruption that determines his professional life, resulting in his undertaking an astonishing course of action. Finally, Jamal, a blue collar veteran of the first Gulf War, struggles to make a life for himself and to avoid falling into the ruinous life of a player on the streets in order to survive.
The American Dream is the first casualty of the trade war unleashed by American inattention to its self interests, and the four protagonists as well as those close to them define the winners and losers in this highly sophisticated, and yet to be decided, meditation on the greatest class war in America today.
About the Author
David Ainsworth practiced international maritime law in San Francisco for three decades and spent many years participating as an industry observer and informal negotiator in bilateral trade negotiations between the United States and several Asian countries. He also represented his clients in combating foreign trade barriers in litigation and in private negotiations with these trading partners. In each case, the American side had to expend extraordinary effort, with only partial success, seeking the same trading rights for American businesses abroad that America extends to foreign entities in this country. It was this experience that taught the author the true nature of America's trade position and provided the genesis of this, his first, novel.
David Ainsworth resides in the Napa Valley and is pursuing new careers writing politically oriented fiction and making wine.