Synopses & Reviews
The 2013 National Book Award Winner
A New York Times Bestseller
Selected by New York Times critic Dwight Garner as a Favorite Book of 2013
One of Amazon's Best Books of 2013
A New York Times Notable Book of 2013
A Washington Post Best Political Book of 2013
An NPR Best Book of 2013
A New Republic Best Book of 2013
One of Publishers Weekly's Best Nonfiction Books of 2013
A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2013
A riveting examination of a nation in crisis, from one of the finest political journalists of our generation.
American democracy is beset by a sense of crisis. Seismic shifts during a single generation have created a country of winners and losers, allowing unprecedented freedom while rending the social contract, driving the political system to the verge of breakdown, and setting citizens adrift to find new paths forward. In The Unwinding, George Packer, author of The Assassins Gate: America in Iraq, tells the story of the United States over the past three decades in an utterly original way, with his characteristically sharp eye for detail and gift for weaving together complex narratives.
The Unwinding journeys through the lives of several Americans, including Dean Price, the son of tobacco farmers, who becomes an evangelist for a new economy in the rural South; Tammy Thomas, a factory worker in the Rust Belt trying to survive the collapse of her city; Jeff Connaughton, a Washington insider oscillating between political idealism and the lure of organized money; and Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire who questions the Internets significance and arrives at a radical vision of the future. Packer interweaves these intimate stories with biographical sketches of the eras leading public figures, from Newt Gingrich to Jay-Z, and collages made from newspaper headlines, advertising slogans, and song lyrics that capture the flow of events and their undercurrents.
The Unwinding portrays a superpower in danger of coming apart at the seams, its elites no longer elite, its institutions no longer working, its ordinary people left to improvise their own schemes for success and salvation. Packers novelistic and kaleidoscopic history of the new America is his most ambitious work to date.
Review
"[The Unwinding] hums — with sorrow, with outrage and with compassion....Packer's gifts are Steinbeckian in the best sense of that term....[Packer has] written something close to a nonfiction masterpiece.” Dwight Garner, The New York Times
Review
“Gripping...deeply affecting...beautifully reported.” David Brooks, The New York Times Book Review
Review
“Packer's dark rendering of the state of the nation feels pained but true. He offers no false hopes, no Hollywood endings, but he finds power in...the dignity and heart of a people.” The Washington Post
Review
“[The Unwinding] has many of the qualities of an epic novel...[a] professional work of journalism that also happens to be more intimate and textured — and certainly more ambitious — than most contemporary works of U.S. fiction dare to be....What distinguishes The Unwinding is the fullness of Packers portraits, his willingness to show his subjects human desires and foibles, and to give each of his subjects a fully throated voice.” The Los Angeles Times
Review
“A monumental work that is both intimate and sweeping....Packer's writing dazzles...[his] reporting excels....The cumulative effect is extraordinary.” The Seattle Times
Review
“Brilliant. Harrowing. Gorgeously written...The Unwinding is a lyrical requiem for a lost time, for downsized dreams and surrendered hopes. It's beautiful... but also...heartbreaking, a lush work of art that hurts all the more for being about the loss of hope and promise in America.” The Daily Kos
Review
“This is a work not just of fact, but of wit, irony, and astounding imagination.” The Paris Review
Review
“A work of prodigious, highly original reporting....[Packer] demonstrates that the future of reporting out in world isn't in eclipse....Packer's arduous venture commands attention.” The New York Review of Books
Review
“Wide ranging, deeply reported, historically grounded and ideologically restrained....Instead of compelling us to engage with his theory of the past 35 years of the American experience, Packer invites us to explore the experience itself, as lived by our fellow citizens. They're human beings, not evidence for an agenda or fodder for talking points. Understanding that is the first step toward reclaiming the nation we share with them.” Laura Miller, Salon
Review
“[Packer is] among the best non-fiction writers in America...[he] weaves an unforgettable tapestry....In its sensibility, The Unwinding is closer to a novel than a work of non-fiction. It is all the more powerful for it.” The Financial Times
Review
“Fascinating...elegant....A richly complex narrative brew.” The Chicago Tribune
Review
“[An] awe-inspiring X-Ray of the modern American soul.” The Millions
Review
“A brilliant and innovative book that transcends journalism to become literature.” Bookforum
Review
“[S]uperbly written and consistently thought-provoking....The Unwinding is long-form journalism at its best.” Dallas News
Review
“Masterful...thoughtful, thorough, and persuasive...the payoff comes when Packer's various elements combine in powerful and startling ways....What will stay with you...are the book's people, people Packer never turns into ideological mascots, people who struggle to survive, to create, to improve, even as the systems of support erode around them.” The Christian Science Monitor
Review
“Packer's strength as a storyteller lies in his ability to marshal a diverse range of voices from across the class divide, in a nation deeply divided by social status.” NPR Books.org
Review
“Exemplary journalism....A foundational document in the literature of the end of America.” Kirkus (starred review)
Review
“A broad and compelling perspective on a nation in crisis...an illuminating, in-depth, sometimes frightening view of the complexities of decline and the enduring hope of recovery.” Booklist (starred review)
Review
“Trenchant...[the] brief biographies of seminal figures that shaped the current state of affairs offer the books fiercest prose, such as in Packer's brutal takedown of Robert Rubin, secretary of the Treasury during some key 1990s financial deregulation that amplified the severity of the Great Recession of 2008. Packer has a keen eye for the big story in the small moment, writing about our fraying social fabric with talent that matches his dismay.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
“The Unwinding...echoes the symphonic rage of the celebrated television series The Wire...a tremendous work of reporting that pushes past abstractions and recycled debates....Whatever ones views on American decline generally, it is difficult to put the book down without...a conviction that we can do better. And yet if it is a story of despair, it is also a story of resilience. Packers subjects make good and bad decisions, enjoy lucky breaks and misfortune, eke it out, give in, and try harder. The lives they lead are worth describing in detail, not only because they are instructive but also because they are beautiful.” The Washington Monthly
Synopsis
The 2013 National Book Award Winner
A New York Times Bestseller
American democracy is beset by a sense of crisis. Seismic shifts during a single generation have created a country of winners and losers, allowing unprecedented freedom while rending the social contract, driving the political system to the verge of breakdown, and setting citizens adrift to find new paths forward. In The Unwinding, George Packer tells the story of the past three decades by journeying through the lives of several Americans, including a son of tobacco farmers who becomes an evangelist for a new economy in the rural South, a factory worker in the Rust Belt trying to survive the collapse of her city, a Washington insider oscillating between political idealism and the lure of organized money, and a Silicon Valley billionaire who arrives at a radical vision of the future. Packer interweaves these stories with sketches of public figures, from Newt Gingrich to Jay-Z, and collages made from newspaper headlines, advertising slogans, and song lyrics. Packer's novelistic and kaleidoscopic history of the new America is his most ambitious work to date.
Synopsis
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
AN NPR BEST BOOK
Selected by New York Times' critic Dwight Garner as a Favorite Book
A Washington Post Best Political Book
A New Republic Best Book
A riveting examination of a nation in crisis, from one of the finest political journalists of our generation.
American democracy is beset by a sense of crisis. Seismic shifts during a single generation have created a country of winners and losers, allowing unprecedented freedom while rending the social contract, driving the political system to the verge of breakdown, and setting citizens adrift to find new paths forward. In The Unwinding, George Packer, author of The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq, tells the story of the United States over the past three decades in an utterly original way, with his characteristically sharp eye for detail and gift for weaving together complex narratives.
The Unwinding journeys through the lives of several Americans, including Dean Price, the son of tobacco farmers, who becomes an evangelist for a new economy in the rural South; Tammy Thomas, a factory worker in the Rust Belt trying to survive the collapse of her city; Jeff Connaughton, a Washington insider oscillating between political idealism and the lure of organized money; and Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire who questions the Internet's significance and arrives at a radical vision of the future. Packer interweaves these intimate stories with biographical sketches of the era's leading public figures, from Newt Gingrich to Jay-Z, and collages made from newspaper headlines, advertising slogans, and song lyrics that capture the flow of events and their undercurrents.
The Unwinding portrays a superpower in danger of coming apart at the seams, its elites no longer elite, its institutions no longer working, its ordinary people left to improvise their own schemes for success and salvation. Packer's novelistic and kaleidoscopic history of the new America is his most ambitious work to date.
About the Author
George Packer is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of The Assassins Gate: America in Iraq, which received several prizes and was named one of the ten best books of 2005 by The New York Times Book Review. He is also the author of two novels, The Half Man and Central Square, and two other works of nonfiction, Blood of the Liberals, which won the 2001 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, and The Village of Waiting. His play, Betrayed, ran off-Broadway for five months in 2008 and won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play. His most recent book is Interesting Times: Writings from a Turbulent Decade. He lives in Brooklyn.