Winner of the 2017 PEN Southwest Book Award in Creative Nonfiction
Finalist for the 2018 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards
“A collection of impressively researched yet conversational essays about environmental degradation, place and time.”
—The Guardian
“A thoroughly American book after all, one of shocking kinetic force and cultural insight.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books
“Like [T.S.] Eliot, McPherson has collected fragments from culture, history, and his life and used them to erect an edifice that points the way to—but, one hopes, in doing so might also help protect against—our ruin.”
—Georgia Review
“McPherson offers a soul-searching, though not bleak series of think pieces designed to get us all asking more questions.”
—Booklist
“[McPherson's] often quirky study reveals the suppressed violence that ravages our communities’ social harmony as well as the environmental balance we so desperately need to preserve.”
—The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Journalism of the highest order.”
—Lively-arts
“[McPherson] proves himself to be a master chronicler of our nation’s incongruous trajectory.”
—The Star Tribune
“The History of the Future should be required reading for those who grapple with understanding our past.”
—The Heavy Feather Review
“Rather than wax nostalgic about a mythical Past-That-Never-Was, McPherson instead teases out the grand ambition of a bygone era, of a reach that far exceeded its grasp and designs for a future that never quote materialized as planned.”
—Rain Taxi
“McPherson’s essays are everything essays should be: in love with the mundane, inquisitive, personal while still aimed at unpacking the wider world in new and interesting ways.”
—NewPages
“If you thought you knew America, read this book; you will find yourself surprised, dismayed, and delighted by the truths he has found and the stories he tells.”
—Charles Baxter
“Funny and searching—a joy to read.”
—Elizabeth Kolbert
“A smart and beautifully written book about America.”
—Rebecca Traister
