Explains how the influences of dreamers, zealots, hucksters, and superstitious groups shaped America's tendency toward a rich fantasy life, citing the roles of individuals from P.T. Barnum to Donald Trump in perpetuating conspiracy theories, self-delusion, and magical thinking. "In this sweeping, eloquent history of America, one of our sharpest observers, Kurt Andersen, demonstrates that what's happening in our country today--this strange, post-truth,...

"Americans have disabled the government's ability to solve even basic problems, making us vulnerable to the most dangerous demagogue ever to pretend to the White House. Kurt Andersen shows how the masterminds of the economic right rode an unprecedented wave of nostalgia by dressing up their harsh new rich-get-richer system in patriotic old-time drag, making it their mission to take over the government for their purposes alone and convincing the country...

During one monumental month in 1848, gold is discovered in California, the United States wins its first foreign war, rebellion erupts throughout Europe, and an eager English gentleman named Benjamin Knowles plunges into love with the strong-minded New York actress and part-time prostitute Polly Lucking. He also meets her brother Duff, a dangerously damaged veteran of the Mexican War, and befriends the unforgettable Timothy Skaggs-journalist, daguerrotypist,...

A satirical memoir written in the style of Donald Trump shares lampooning insights into the forty-fifth president's election, disdain for the press, backroom strategy sessions with White House advisers, and world-changing decisions.

"From the artist hailed as the greatest portraitist of our times comes All the Presidents, a stunning new collection of likenesses of every U.S. president in American history, from George Washington through Donald J. Trump, each rendered in Friedman's celebrated style. Accompanied by vital statistics and fun factoids about each subject, All the Presidents also features an introduction in comics form by the author, as well as a foreword by Kurt Andersen,...