Opening paragraphs................

"It was the end of an era, one that I suspect historians may look upon as the last decade of American innocence. It was a time we remember in terms of images and sdounds rather than historical events - pink Cadillacs, drive-in movies, stylized street hoods, rock'n'roll, Hank and Lefty on the jukebox, the dirty bop, daylight baseball, chopped-down '32 Fords with Merc engines drag-racing in a roar of thunder past drive-in restaurants, all of it backdropped by palm trees, a curling surf, and a purple sky that had obviously been created as a cinematic tribute to our youth."

-James Lee Burke, Crusader's Cross