A rousing vision of an alternate—yet all too familiar—America on the brink.
“Empire City is a passionate, scary, wise, and perhaps even prophetic novel, one that can be appreciated on numerous levels. Set in an alternate world in which the U.S. has emerged triumphant from the Vietnam War, this book has the feel of a powerful admonition and warning, but it also has the dislocating, heart-thumping feel of a nightmare. Matt Gallagher has populated his story with characters undergoing ferocious moral struggles in response to an America teetering on the edge of cataclysm.”
–Tim O’Brien, award-winning author of The Things They Carried
“Part political thriller, part satire, part fevered reflection of a deeply troubled American culture, Matt Gallagher’s Empire City is a brilliant and daring novel. Gallagher’s prose is sharp, energetic and witty, his characters are fiercely alive, and the cracked vision of America he creates is a monstrous thing of beauty.”
–Phil Klay, award-winning author of Redeployment
“Empire City is a dark, nimble book that pulls no punches. While the novel tracks an alternate historical reality, time and again I found myself taken aback at just how prescient and applicable its insight is to our very real present. Gallagher once again establishes himself as a preeminent voice in American writing.”
–Sara Novič , author of Girl at War and America is Immigrants