A marriage cracks apart as a near-future United States redraws its borders in this penetrating and moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Fantasyland.

Natalie and Asher’s marriage has long been marked by fault lines, quiet rifts in how they view their fellow Americans and navigate AI-suffused life in 2045. After twenty-three years together, and after surviving the two years of civil war in the 2030s, Natalie in rural Tennessee (part of the new Free American Republic) and Asher in San Francisco (in the now smaller United States).Natalie and Asher’s relationship mirrors America’s own unraveling—confused, messy, painful, ambivalent, and impossibly intimate.

When Natalie and Asher are brought back into proximity while touring far-flung colleges with their seventeen-year-old, they find themselves on a road trip through a strange, uncertain new American landscape, transformed by both the terrorist uprising and technology, all while dealing with the flux—and resilience—within their own family. They face the questions the nation has reckoned with for a generation: what differences are irreconcilable, and when is something broken worth saving?

Razor-sharp, ambitious, ranging from tragic to comic and brimming with imagination, The Breakup is a sweeping story where the personal and sociopolitical intersect in ways bracingly plausible, keenly insightful, and surprisingly hopeful.
© Nina Subin
Kurt Andersen is the bestselling author of Evil Geniuses, Fantasyland and the novels True Believers, Heyday and Turn of the Century, among other books. He contributes to The New York Times and was host and co-creator of Studio 360, the Peabody Award–winning public radio show and podcast. He also writes for television, film, and the stage. Andersen co-founded Spy magazine, served as editor in chief of New York, and was a cultural columnist and design critic for Time, New York and The New Yorker. He graduated from Harvard College and lives in Brooklyn. View titles by Kurt Andersen
“Great book! Pairing two divorces—one personal, one national—within a novel that’s funny and beautiful is something few writers could do. Thank you, universe, for Kurt Andersen and this page-turner.”—Gary Shteyngart, New York Times bestselling author of Vera, or Faith

“Kurt Andersen plumbs the depths of our national struggle as a metaphor for a personal one . . . and vice versa. Simultaneously amusing and distressing, Clever, nuanced, and a joy.”—Jake Tapper, CNN Anchor and New York Times bestselling author

“Kurt Andersen is the most brilliant social novelist of our time, in the tradition of Tom Wolfe and Don DeLillo, but even funnier and deeper. With a light touch and instinct for telling details, he mixes pitch-perfect satire with profound insights.”—Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of The Greatest Sentence Ever Written

“Well, it’s come to this: One of our most brilliantly observant and thoughtful writers is compelling us to contemplate an American future of disunion and AI-domination in a novel that is all the more powerful for its sobriety, its realism, and, yes, its humanity. With a grasp of history and of manners, of political forces and of emotional truths, Kurt Andersen has written an engaging, important, and illuminating book.”—Jon Meacham, #1 New York Times bestselling author of American Struggle

“In this adventurous new novel, Kurt Andersen, an expert conjurer of the past and present, now transports us into a mesmerizing near future, at once surreal and bizarrely plausible. With wit, fizz, and that rare ability to articulate big ideas that haven’t yet been articulated, Andersen perceives the world on a different frequency from the rest of us.”—Jennifer Senior, Pulitzer Prize–winning Atlantic writer and New York Times bestselling author

The Breakup is an amazing achievement, a harrowing and profound social satire set in the near future, capturing the breakup of a marriage and our poor country. . . . Rich in characters and insight, sometimes painful, often funny, beautifully written.”—Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author

“A rich, incisive study of manners and morals in the American 21st century. And how the strain of constant adaptation to fearful events and discoveries is almost too much to bear, even for people of understanding and sympathy. Pointed, funny and unnerving, The Breakup conveys a sense of inevitability.”—Susanna Moore, bestselling author of In the Cut and The Lost Wife

“This remarkable book contains multitudes—it’s a provocative political thought experiment, a sneakily profound meditation on AI and marriage, and a charming family road trip novel all rolled into one. With wide-ranging intelligence and his trademark wit, Kurt Andersen has written an epic elegy for a country strained past its breaking point, and imagined an eerily plausible version of our dark national future.”—Tom Perrotta, author of Ghost Town

“It is Kurt Andersen’s oracular perversity that one of the few institutions that survive the country’s demise is the college tour. So here is one last American road trip . . . confronting the great question Robert Frost posed: What to make of a diminished thing? And as Garry Shandling would say, No flipping—the ending is pure Hitchcock.”—Caitlin Flanagan, author of Girl Land

About

A marriage cracks apart as a near-future United States redraws its borders in this penetrating and moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Fantasyland.

Natalie and Asher’s marriage has long been marked by fault lines, quiet rifts in how they view their fellow Americans and navigate AI-suffused life in 2045. After twenty-three years together, and after surviving the two years of civil war in the 2030s, Natalie in rural Tennessee (part of the new Free American Republic) and Asher in San Francisco (in the now smaller United States).Natalie and Asher’s relationship mirrors America’s own unraveling—confused, messy, painful, ambivalent, and impossibly intimate.

When Natalie and Asher are brought back into proximity while touring far-flung colleges with their seventeen-year-old, they find themselves on a road trip through a strange, uncertain new American landscape, transformed by both the terrorist uprising and technology, all while dealing with the flux—and resilience—within their own family. They face the questions the nation has reckoned with for a generation: what differences are irreconcilable, and when is something broken worth saving?

Razor-sharp, ambitious, ranging from tragic to comic and brimming with imagination, The Breakup is a sweeping story where the personal and sociopolitical intersect in ways bracingly plausible, keenly insightful, and surprisingly hopeful.

Author

© Nina Subin
Kurt Andersen is the bestselling author of Evil Geniuses, Fantasyland and the novels True Believers, Heyday and Turn of the Century, among other books. He contributes to The New York Times and was host and co-creator of Studio 360, the Peabody Award–winning public radio show and podcast. He also writes for television, film, and the stage. Andersen co-founded Spy magazine, served as editor in chief of New York, and was a cultural columnist and design critic for Time, New York and The New Yorker. He graduated from Harvard College and lives in Brooklyn. View titles by Kurt Andersen

Praise

“Great book! Pairing two divorces—one personal, one national—within a novel that’s funny and beautiful is something few writers could do. Thank you, universe, for Kurt Andersen and this page-turner.”—Gary Shteyngart, New York Times bestselling author of Vera, or Faith

“Kurt Andersen plumbs the depths of our national struggle as a metaphor for a personal one . . . and vice versa. Simultaneously amusing and distressing, Clever, nuanced, and a joy.”—Jake Tapper, CNN Anchor and New York Times bestselling author

“Kurt Andersen is the most brilliant social novelist of our time, in the tradition of Tom Wolfe and Don DeLillo, but even funnier and deeper. With a light touch and instinct for telling details, he mixes pitch-perfect satire with profound insights.”—Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of The Greatest Sentence Ever Written

“Well, it’s come to this: One of our most brilliantly observant and thoughtful writers is compelling us to contemplate an American future of disunion and AI-domination in a novel that is all the more powerful for its sobriety, its realism, and, yes, its humanity. With a grasp of history and of manners, of political forces and of emotional truths, Kurt Andersen has written an engaging, important, and illuminating book.”—Jon Meacham, #1 New York Times bestselling author of American Struggle

“In this adventurous new novel, Kurt Andersen, an expert conjurer of the past and present, now transports us into a mesmerizing near future, at once surreal and bizarrely plausible. With wit, fizz, and that rare ability to articulate big ideas that haven’t yet been articulated, Andersen perceives the world on a different frequency from the rest of us.”—Jennifer Senior, Pulitzer Prize–winning Atlantic writer and New York Times bestselling author

The Breakup is an amazing achievement, a harrowing and profound social satire set in the near future, capturing the breakup of a marriage and our poor country. . . . Rich in characters and insight, sometimes painful, often funny, beautifully written.”—Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author

“A rich, incisive study of manners and morals in the American 21st century. And how the strain of constant adaptation to fearful events and discoveries is almost too much to bear, even for people of understanding and sympathy. Pointed, funny and unnerving, The Breakup conveys a sense of inevitability.”—Susanna Moore, bestselling author of In the Cut and The Lost Wife

“This remarkable book contains multitudes—it’s a provocative political thought experiment, a sneakily profound meditation on AI and marriage, and a charming family road trip novel all rolled into one. With wide-ranging intelligence and his trademark wit, Kurt Andersen has written an epic elegy for a country strained past its breaking point, and imagined an eerily plausible version of our dark national future.”—Tom Perrotta, author of Ghost Town

“It is Kurt Andersen’s oracular perversity that one of the few institutions that survive the country’s demise is the college tour. So here is one last American road trip . . . confronting the great question Robert Frost posed: What to make of a diminished thing? And as Garry Shandling would say, No flipping—the ending is pure Hitchcock.”—Caitlin Flanagan, author of Girl Land

Books for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Each May, we honor the stories, histories, and cultures of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Below is a selection of acclaimed fiction and nonfiction books by AANHPI creators to share with your students this month and throughout the year. Find our full collection of titles for Higher Education here.

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