Bloodbath Nation

BLOODBATH NATION is about the Epidemic that is tearing apart the fabric of American society. An Epidemic caused - not by Covid - but by Guns. Among its victims are men, women, teenagers, children, and even babies. The massacres have taken place in churches, schools, movie theatres, and at rock concerts. Auster establishes how America's love affair with guns goes all the way back to the arrival of the first British settlers - guns in hand - who used these guns to eradicate the Native Americans who occupied the country. This history of carnage continues to this day. Interwoven into the text are photographs taken by Spencer Ostrander of the locations of the mass killlngs - which serve as mute testaments to the lives that have been lost. Guns have become one of the issues dividing America today, but Auster doesn't take sides. The book is a plea for both sides to find a way of avoiding more death and grief. Accompanying Auster's text is a series of photographs of the locations of these mass killings. There are no bodies - only the empty spaces which stand as mute memorials to the lives that have been lost.

Paul Auster was the bestselling author of 4 3 2 1, Sunset Park, The Book of Illusions, Moon Palace and The New York Trilogy. He and Spencer Ostrander collaborated on Bloodbath Nation. In 2006, he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature. His other honours include the Prix Medicis Étranger for Leviathan, the Independent Spirit Award for the Screenplay of Smoke, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Burning Boy, and the Carlos Fuentes Prize for his body of work. His novel 4 3 2 1 was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and was a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work was translated into more than forty languages. His final novel, Baumgartner, was published in November 2023. He died on 30 April 2024.