In this debut collection of seven dystopian fantasies, some of which have appeared in the New Yorker and Harper's, America in the near future is a toxic wasteland overrun by vicious thugs and venal opportunists who prey on the weak and misshapen. “An astoundingly tuned voice-graceful, dark, authentic, and funny-telling just the kinds of stories we need to get us through these times.” -Thomas Pynchon “Not since Twain has America produced a satirist this funny.” -Zadie Smith “Saunders makes the all-but-impossible look effortless.” -Jonathan Franzen is scary, hilarious, and unforgettable.” -Tobias Wolff “George Saunders is a writer of arresting brilliance and originality, with a sure sense of his material and apparently inexhaustible resources of voice. “Saunders’s satiric vision of America is dark and demented it’s also ferocious and very funny.” -Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times “It’s no exaggeration to say that short story master George Saunders helped change the trajectory of American fiction.” - The Wall Street Journal Praise for George Saunders and CivilWarLand in Bad Decline With a new introduction by Joshua Ferris and a new author’s note by Saunders himself, this edition is essential reading for those seeking to discover or revisit a virtuosic, disturbingly prescient voice.

In six stories and a novella, Saunders hatches an unforgettable cast of characters, each struggling to survive in an increasingly haywire world.

Since its publication in 1996, George Saunders’s debut collection has grown in esteem from a cherished cult classic to a masterpiece of the form, inspiring an entire generation of writers along the way.

Civilwarland