The Godfather: The Lost Years - Mark Winegardner

'The bloody victory of the Corleone Family was not complete,' begins the final chapter of Mario Puzo's The Godfather, 'until a year of delicate maneuvering established Michael Corleone as the most powerful Family chief in the United States.'The Godfather Returns takes place in the years 1955-65, but it is built upon the story of that 'year of delicate political maneuvering' - and how, in winning the battle of that year, Michael Corleone set the stage to lose the war: the war to make the Family legitimate, the war to keep the Corleones supremely in power, the war to stay true to his father's wishes, the war to give not just his Family but his family a safe and happy life. The Godfather Returns is not just a sequel. The title refers to the arc of the plot: the nexus of ambitious, audacious decisions that Michael implements, their ultimate failure, and, after the Family's literal and figurative years in the wilderness (of Las Vegas), Michael Corleone's literal, physical return to New York, and his attempts to regain control there.