The protagonist is unable to interview a man accused of raping and murdering a housewife, Spofford Mitchell, and when he writes a series of politically charged articles for Harper's, he draws the ire of his superior Alec Witt.  
One character in this work believes his home to be "the contempt center of the U.S.A.", and another character goes into a seizure when the protagonist declares he loves her.  The protagonist is unable to interview a man accused of raping and murdering a housewife, Spofford Mitchell, and when he writes a series of politically charged articles for Harper's, he draws the ire of his superior Alec Witt.  The protagonist gets help from his childhood friend Dewey Spangler in circumventing the colonel's limitations on hospital visits to his mother-in-law, and he is publicly denounced by his nephew Mason and cousin Max during controversy surrounding a trial of a black man accused of murdering a student of the Chicago university where the protagonist works.  FTP, Valeria's deathbed in Bucharest is attended by Minna and Albert Corde in what novel by Saul Bellow?
One character in this work believes his home to be "the contempt center of the U.S.A.", and another character goes into a seizure when the protagonist declares he loves her.  
The Dean's December