num_pages: 300
description: In Portrait, the main character, Nathaniel Greenlee is obsessed with making it big in any fashion he can in the early days of colonial America (circa 1790-1830). He even goes so far as faking his own death. He goes into real estate, hob nobs, if indirectly, with the big names of his time (Washington and Adams) and bases his success on gaining position and land, sometimes under false pretense and bravado. He takes a post in France, meets and greets with dignitaries solely to satisfy his longing for attention and exposure to the finer things in life, but eventually finds this boring and wants action in the new America, once again.Always quick to point out his misunderstood nature, he really does not see the wrong he does. Potrait is not only a literal portrait that is made of him, but a symbolic one. He is flawed to the point of being a scoundrel. However, his antics are charming; not vulgar or crass, just the type of things an uncle or cousin would do, before he would wind up jail.
language: English
title: Portrait of a Scoundrel
titlecomplete: Portrait of a Scoundrel
ratings_count: 5
publisher: Doubleday