Emily Witt didn’t set out to write the first great book about what it was like to live through the Trump presidency, the beginning of the pandemic, and the radical moral and political shifts that happened in America between 2016 and 2020. Instead, she started out writing an elegy for the Bushwick-based rave-culture scene, which she got involved with after developing a strong intellectual and personal interest in hallucinogenic drugs. This was also around the time she entered an idyllic love affair with a younger boyfriend, with whom she lived and partied. Soon after, she became a reporter for The New Yorker, traveling around the country and documenting the aftermath of school shootings, alt-right rallies, and the protests in Wisconsin that intensified after Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two protesters. Her parallel lives of partying and reporting culminated in a life-altering moment at a Black Lives Matter protest that catalyzed the protracted and dramatic ending of her relationship. Her boyfriend, injured by police, experienced a manic episode that led Witt to question her own perception of reality.
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