{"product_id":"rasputin-swims-the-potomac","title":"Rasputin Swims the Potomac","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Fountain turns this scathing satire to the most relevant story of our time: the twists and turns of American democracy as it hurtles toward authoritarianism.\" \u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eLitHub \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Fiction is truer than real life in \n\u003ci\u003e Rasputin Swims the Potomac\u003c\/i\u003e, an audacious, rip-roaring, and terrifying good time. Don't read ABOUT this book--it will sound too crazy! Dive in and see for yourself... Ben Fountain is a prophet, comic genius and a master storyteller.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--Maria Semple, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eWhere'd You Go, Bernadette\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eGo Gentle \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk\" is a masterpiece of satire, and somehow, he's managed to do it again.... Fountain pulls it off with his gleefully absurd sense of humor.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--The \u003ci\u003eL.A. Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"[A] brilliant satire.... More than a laugh riot, this offers an unflinching view at the bottomless depths opened by a president 'whose ego has wormholes Freud never dreamt of.' It's a mordant and chilling portrait of a national hellscape.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"[RASPUTIN SWIMS THE POTOMAC is] a welcome bolt of brilliantly zany fantasia for our grim and dour times.... Fountain's sweet spot is the intersection between reality TV and reality, an intellectual and comedic playground which extends here to the world of wrestling.... Fountain goes on to have about as much fun as you can have with the 26 letters of the alphabet. A comic masterpiece. The current administration is finally getting the book it deserves.\" \n\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eKirkus \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A withering satire...timely and terrifying, Fountain's version of the current and potentially future state of American politics and culture is simultaneously wild and absurd yet eerily plausible.\" \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e--\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\"If anyone can capture the stupefying stupidity of today's politics, Fountain can.\" \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e--Publisher's Weekly \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Ben Fountain's near-future political satire imagines a redacted but obvious president angling for a third term amid a tsunami of mass public weeping. Through Clarence, a wry journalist; Faith, a young communications aide; and Rasputin, a wrestler turned running mate, the novel skewers reality TV, politics and the media.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e--Newsday\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eONE OF\u003ci\u003e LITHUB'\u003c\/i\u003eS MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2026 \u003c\/b\u003e-\u003cb\u003e NAMED A BEST BOOK OF SUMMER BY THE\u003ci\u003e L.A. TIMES \u003c\/i\u003e\u0026amp; \u003ci\u003eKIRKUS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e\"A comic masterpiece. The current administration is finally getting the book it deserves.\"--\u003ci\u003eKirkus (\u003c\/i\u003eStarred Review) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the award-winning, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eBilly Lynn's Long Halftime Walk\u003c\/i\u003e comes a biting satire of American politics and a searingly intelligent novel about the cruel absurdities of contemporary life, centering on a world champion professional wrestler with presidential ambitions\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eReporter Clarence Thomas Jr. is looking for a great story, former country music teen star Faith Spack has parlayed her fame into a job at the White House, and the two-term incumbent president is campaigning for a constitutionally dubious third term. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAfter an outbreak at a campaign rally, a mysterious new pandemic of \"weeping sickness\" sweeps the nation, threatening the president's hold on the Oval Office. Desperate to retain power, he enlists the mystical pro wrestler Rasputin to help ensure his reelection and guarantee additional seasons of his presidential reality TV show, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Real West Wing\u003c\/i\u003e. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBut as Rasputin's appeal threatens to exceed the president's, and the wrestler's supposedly supernatural powers start to seem like the real thing, the campaign finds itself trapped in a spandex-clad destiny no number of executive orders can control, one in which both Clarence and Faith are compelled to play increasingly large parts. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHilarious, compelling, and tragically relevant, \n\u003ci\u003eRasputin Swims the Potomac\u003c\/i\u003e is both an escape and a warning, a scathing satire that explores the twists and turns of American democracy as it hurtles toward authoritarianism. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/01\/2026 (EAN 9781250776549, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/01\/2026 (EAN 9781250776549, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/18\/2026 (EAN 9781250776549, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eFountain, Ben\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eBen Fountain\u003c\/b\u003e's work has received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the PEN\/Hemingway Award, the Los Angeles Book Prize for Fiction, and a Whiting Writers Award, and has been a finalist for the National Book Award and runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He lives in North Carolina.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Flatiron Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496248934678,"sku":"9781250776549","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9781250776549.jpg?v=1783058202","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/rasputin-swims-the-potomac","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}