The Magic Christian

Guy Grand is an eccentric billionaire--the last of the big spenders--determined to create disorder in the material world and willing to spare no expense to do it. Leading a life full of practical jokes and madcap schemes, his ultimate goal is to prove his theory that there is nothing so degrading or so distasteful that someone won't do it for money. In Guy Grand's world, everyone has a price, and he is all too willing to pay it.

A satire of America's obsession with bigness, toughness, money, TV, guns, and sex, The Magic Christian is a hilarious and wickedly original novel from a true comic genius.

"This is at once the most profoundly satiric and wildly comic account of our life and times in years."--Nelson Algren, The Nation

"Terry Southern is the most profoundly witty writer of our generation."--Gore Vidal

"Mr. Southern is wonderfully prodigal of comic ideas.... An enormously funny and satisfying satire, done with a great thrifty distinction."--The Spectator

"Terry Southern writes a mean, coolly deliberate, and murderous prose."--Norman Mailer

Terry Southern was the author of Flash and Filigree, Candy (with Mason Hoffenberg), Blue Movie, and Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes. He was also an Oscar-nominated screenwriter whose credits include Easy Rider, Dr. Strangelove, and Barbarella, as well as an adaptation of The Magic Christian.