When it was announced recently that National Security Advisor, James Jones, was leaving the White House, the name caused my thoughts to turn to another James Jones. No, not James Earl Jones the actor. Actually my mind focused on James R. Jones the novelist.

Although most people have forgotten about James Jones the novelist or remember him only for his groundbreaking novel, “From Here To Eternity” or, perhaps, “The Thin Red Line,” he also wrote what can only be described as THE Great American Novel, “Some Came Running.” Perhaps you saw a movie of the same name starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Shirley MacClaine. Well, the character names are pretty much all that the movie has in common with the novel. “Some Came Running” was a sweeping novel of such detail and depth that it can serve as a goldmine for sociologists and psychologists who want to research what post WWII America was like. In many ways, “Some Came Running” covered the same themes (and more) as Sinclair Lewis’ “Babbit” with one important difference: the characters in Jones’ novel were much more developed.