George Packer’s The Emergency does not sound like a book interested in entertaining the reader into comfort. It sounds like a book prepared to press on the bruise.
I respect that. There is a place for propulsive reading, but there is also a place for the kind of nonfiction that asks more of your attention and rewards it with sharper thinking. Titles like this tend to attract readers who want context, not just commentary, and that usually leads to better books.
What interests me here is the implication of scale. The word emergency can be cheapened by overuse, but it can also serve as a clean acknowledgment that the old normal is not coming back. When a writer handles that honestly, the result can be much more valuable than whatever is currently trending as urgent.
Get your copy: The Emergency on Amazon