The classic novel The Ecstasy of Owen Muir is the story of what happens in 1940s America when an idealistically, fiercely honest young man, with no strong religious affiliation, marries a Roman Catholic woman. In this brilliantly comic and pungent tale, Lardner dissects the thought control of the McCarthy era, business ethics, racial intolerance, attitudes toward sex, the Manhattan night-club set, judicial procedures, and other social phenomenon.