Summary

Three years later, in 1976, Carney finds himself in attendance of a political gathering at The Dumas Club, where Elizabeth is working on the Alexander Oakes campaign. The venue is ritzy and well-populated, full of politicking and money-changing. Oakes flirts with Elizabeth before he takes the stage. Carney privately dislikes Oakes even though he is also a Strivers’ Row local, and confides his disdain for Oakes in his son, John, and his friend Calvin Pierce. After Oakes finishes speaking, he makes a dismissive comment to Carney, and Carney leaves. Meanwhile, Carney hears tell of a company called Excelsior whose buildings have been getting burned down in a series of protests throughout Harlem. One of them had a young boy inside it, Albert Ruiz; Albert’s mother is one of Carney’s tenants. As Carney wanders the neighborhood and contemplates the wealth...