Scott Fitzgerald`s second novel, "The Beautiful and Damned", is a savage and haunting satire of the young, rootless post-war generation who live intent only on the pursuit of wealth and decadent pleasure. Anthony Patch`s marriage to the beautiful but selfish Gloria is idyllic at first but the union slowly disintegrates as reality sets in and their goal becomes Adam Patch`s fortune. Gloria`s beauty fades, and Anthony`s drinking takes its toll. Charting the corrosive attraction of wealth and its malign influence, "The Beautiful and Damned" is also a vivid portrait of early twentieth-century New York and the sights and sounds of the city`s burgeoning night life.