'Gilligan's Wake' is a montage of American history, a vivid tapestry woven from the lives of six eclectic characters. The story navigates through the South Pacific with a skipper mingling with navy legends, traverses downtown cafes with mysterious bearded figures, and lands in the glitz of Hollywood. As it follows its protagonists from the Hamptons to Provincetown, from a desert compound to Paris, and back to a Kansas homestead, the narrative reveals an underlying connection through a shadowy author—a man whose own story is as enigmatic as the histories he's entwined. This book is an ingenious blend of fact and fiction, conspiracies and reality, culminating in a stunning portrayal of the American century.