Pax Americana Kurt Baumeister Books
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2034 Evangelical secret agents, fast food moguls, the voice of God in computer software, violence in the Bermuda Triangle! George W. Bush's foreign policy vindicated by a quick victory in Iraq, lucrative invasions of Egypt and Syria followed, bringing unparalleled prosperity to America and setting off thirty years of right-wing rule. But when a war in Iran goes bad--and the resulting cover-up goes worse--the Democrats reclaim the presidency. This is the time of Pax Americana and its zealous anti-hero, government agent Tuck Squires.
Reading the ironic silences between the lines of the thriller, and roaring like a jet engine, Pax Americana is a sacrilegious, conspiratorial monster; like a literary dogfight between Ian Fleming and Robert Anton Wilson, loaded with prophecy, Baumeister's debut is an exorcism and an antidote for our era.
'Like an episode of Archer written by Kurt Vonnegut, Baumeister takes us into a hilarious and high-velocity world of espionage and global politics in this send-up of god, country, and the possibility of doing good in a world gone bad. It's fast-paced fun, watch out for paper cuts as the pages fly by.' -Shya Scanlon
'If there is to be an American peace, it's certainly not going to come on the pages of this lit match of a novel. Kurt Baumeister has fashioned exactly the old school pre- and post-Bond techno x-travaganza everyone bored with explorations of the louvre has been waiting for. Pax Americana is both dark satire and deeply satisfying, an adrenaline rush that runs through suspect politics, spirituality software, and the sacredly profane. It's a blast. Buy it now.' -Sean Beaudoin
Pax Americana Kurt Baumeister Books
“There are no rules?” “There are rules, but the rules are chaos, Reality is chaos. Everything is chaos”Kurt Baumeister’s action packed farcical special agent novel will transport you back to the early 2000’s despite it being set in 2034. Part of the premise of Pax Americana is during his presidency Bush cranked his foreign policy up to full blast, invading countries and exploiting them economically for America’s benefit leading to a long wave of right wing prosperity. The other ominous aspects of the Bush/Cheney years have also prevailed, leading to a significant merger of the economy and Christianity, creating some very rich and powerful zealots. A scientist has created a God software that could make religion obsolete or in the wrong hands confirm every zealot’s dangerous ideology. When this scientist is kidnapped a geopolitical cluster eff of epic proportions is set into motion.
Pax Americana is rich with various detailed narratives and characters that are highly entertaining and can come across like PKD writing Mission Impossible. Baumeister does a great job developing these larger than life characters and putting them in over the top situations only a villainous fast food mogul and special agents for the shadow CIA would find themselves in. There is plenty of action and sardonic humor to keep you engaged for the whole ride. I highlighted the following line which I think encompasses satirical wit of the book: “Maybe the reality wasn’t that we were atop the food chain, the apex predator with a soul seeking to understand the world. Maybe we were a virus. Or perhaps not only a virus but host, too. Or maybe the virus was something beyond? Maybe the virus was god, and we were only symptoms”. Kurt Baumeister channels Vonnegut, and flexes his literary chops, forcing you to think philosophically about religion, geopolitics, and economics but not in a sententious manner. The use of violence and science fiction balance it all out.
There are a lot of characters who have multiple names (they are secret agents and villains) and the narrative is not in sequential order which in the wrong hands could be very confusing. Baumeister does such a perfect job of chopping it up in a way that the story flows perfectly and he was nice enough to put a character reference page at the front of the book which was helpful. This is no flimsy novel, clocking in at close to 375 pages there is a lot to dig into here. Another notable aspect of this book is how ever prescient it is reflecting today’s absurd and terrifying geopolitical climate. I can’t deny that following the news while reading this book it was sometimes difficult to tell which one was the fiction.
This is apparently Baumeister’s first published novel and it is a doozie. I picked it up while at AWP in Washington D.C. Pax Americana was being released by Stalking Horse Press, who I am new to as well. They released D. Foy’s new book, who I am a fan of, and after reading Pax American I would say Stalking Horse Press will hold a nice spot on my shelves. Honestly, all I did was read the back of the book and I was immediately intrigued. The idea of such a long stretch of Bush-era rule triggered an element of nostalgia in me that I had to check it out. That’s the thing about nostalgia, even in the worst of times there is always some art to add comfort to it. I definitely look forward to reading Baumeister’s future work
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Pax Americana Kurt Baumeister Books Reviews
Kurt Baumeister’s PAX AMERICANA is a deftly-rendered, imaginative, satirical skewering of many of our infernal country’s sacred cows, Baumeister roasting them alive with incendiary wit, slicing and dicing them with razor-sharp prose, critically dispensing them, thereby circumventing herd mentalities. Dystopic, yes, set about twenty years into the future, yes, but the novel also reads as a devastating, zany take on current events, the current state of disunion, where the so-called lines between church and state and corporation have long been simply obliterated. Tom Robbins, William Gibson, Kurt Vonnegut, and John le Carré all came to mind as I read PAX AMERICANA, but Baumeister is thoroughly his own, his chiseled, seriocomic sentences meticulously capturing America’s particular hypocrisies, its absurdities brought, paradoxically, to their logical conclusions. Hard to believe this exemplary artwork is a debut.
Pax Americana is a thrilling and entertaining satirical look at a future where politics, religion, and technology collide in a terrifying way. The plot is strong and imaginative, and the writing is gripping. There were times when it felt a bit longer than it needed to be with extra backstory or side plots, but on the whole it worked very well and delivered a frightful yet entertaining picture of where the world could be headed.
Full of prescient action - when you look at the present moment of our politics this book becomes funnier, and more terrifying with every turn of its sardonic pages.
A thriller that will leave you in constant suspense and intrigue!
The author has a sophisticated and brilliant manner with wordplay and illustration.
I highly recommend it!
Baumeister's novel is a fun political romp through a world that is both futuristic and frighteningly close-to-home. What if spirituality could be reached through technology? Would it be used for global enlightenment or domination? This is a very simple sum-up of one of the many questions that propel this unique, fast-paced thriller. I read it for the plot, but also for Baumeister's wit and insights, and his way with language. I often paused to laugh, or to marvel at a clever sentence. I look forward to seeing what he takes on in his next book!
This is exactly the book I needed right now to feel a little more okay with the world. It's got just the right mix, absurd enough to be wild and entertaining at the same time that you could darkly see how one might unfortunately end up there from here. Imagination in spades, the book thrills, entertains, and warns. Great stuff all around.
WOW. IT WAS FANTASTIC. I LOVED IT!!!!!! Even with all the relatives around for the holidays, I would sneak off to read a few pages before they missed me.
The concept of Righteous Burger may at once seem far fetched, but then again maybe close to reality. I thought it was extremely funny that it was like an amusement park ride as in you were "barred" in until the ride/message was complete.
My wife would often hear me break out laughing as I was reading. I couldn't stop laughing when I came across things like "Kelly Anne" or "Wolfview". "Dubya" was great also.
I am really amazed as to how the author could dream this whole thing up. The characters seem so real and the actions they take seem so plausible. I also got a special kick out of the masks - a really great concept.
I can't wait for Baumeister's next book!!!
“There are no rules?” “There are rules, but the rules are chaos, Reality is chaos. Everything is chaos”
Kurt Baumeister’s action packed farcical special agent novel will transport you back to the early 2000’s despite it being set in 2034. Part of the premise of Pax Americana is during his presidency Bush cranked his foreign policy up to full blast, invading countries and exploiting them economically for America’s benefit leading to a long wave of right wing prosperity. The other ominous aspects of the Bush/Cheney years have also prevailed, leading to a significant merger of the economy and Christianity, creating some very rich and powerful zealots. A scientist has created a God software that could make religion obsolete or in the wrong hands confirm every zealot’s dangerous ideology. When this scientist is kidnapped a geopolitical cluster eff of epic proportions is set into motion.
Pax Americana is rich with various detailed narratives and characters that are highly entertaining and can come across like PKD writing Mission Impossible. Baumeister does a great job developing these larger than life characters and putting them in over the top situations only a villainous fast food mogul and special agents for the shadow CIA would find themselves in. There is plenty of action and sardonic humor to keep you engaged for the whole ride. I highlighted the following line which I think encompasses satirical wit of the book “Maybe the reality wasn’t that we were atop the food chain, the apex predator with a soul seeking to understand the world. Maybe we were a virus. Or perhaps not only a virus but host, too. Or maybe the virus was something beyond? Maybe the virus was god, and we were only symptoms”. Kurt Baumeister channels Vonnegut, and flexes his literary chops, forcing you to think philosophically about religion, geopolitics, and economics but not in a sententious manner. The use of violence and science fiction balance it all out.
There are a lot of characters who have multiple names (they are secret agents and villains) and the narrative is not in sequential order which in the wrong hands could be very confusing. Baumeister does such a perfect job of chopping it up in a way that the story flows perfectly and he was nice enough to put a character reference page at the front of the book which was helpful. This is no flimsy novel, clocking in at close to 375 pages there is a lot to dig into here. Another notable aspect of this book is how ever prescient it is reflecting today’s absurd and terrifying geopolitical climate. I can’t deny that following the news while reading this book it was sometimes difficult to tell which one was the fiction.
This is apparently Baumeister’s first published novel and it is a doozie. I picked it up while at AWP in Washington D.C. Pax Americana was being released by Stalking Horse Press, who I am new to as well. They released D. Foy’s new book, who I am a fan of, and after reading Pax American I would say Stalking Horse Press will hold a nice spot on my shelves. Honestly, all I did was read the back of the book and I was immediately intrigued. The idea of such a long stretch of Bush-era rule triggered an element of nostalgia in me that I had to check it out. That’s the thing about nostalgia, even in the worst of times there is always some art to add comfort to it. I definitely look forward to reading Baumeister’s future work
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