comment on setting

Elbow Room consists of twelve diverse stories sharing no common setting, but all narrated in the era of the Vietnam War and the rioting following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. "Why I like Country Music" takes place in affluent New York City, but discusses rural South Carolina as it was a long lifetime ago. "The Story of a Dead Man" is told from affluent Chicago, but recounts events and conditions in the rural South and a variety of places across the United States. "The Silver Bullet," "The Faithful," and "Just Enough for the City" are set in non-specific urban settings. "Problems of Art" and "Widows and Orphans" are both set in Los Angeles, the former in a modest apartment and DMV hearing room, and the latter in an opulent banquet hall, recalling events in Chicago. "The Story of a Scar" is set in a Detroit surgeon's waiting room but relates the build-up to violence in a branch post office. "I Am an American" is set in London, England, in a seedy tourist hotel and bobby stations. Finally "Elbow Room." Is set in Oakland and San Francisco, CA.