‘American Carnage’ tells the story of 11 discharged federal employees
By PIPER AWEEKA — city@theaggie.org
On Jan. 10 at 6 p.m., the wooden chairs lining the Avid Reader’s interior began to fill with patrons. As guests exchanged hellos, Sasha Abramsky, UC Davis professor, journalist and author, made his way to the front holding a copy of his new novel, “American Carnage.” A brief summary on its yellow back cover described the stories of 11 federal employees in the wake of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Donald Trump’s second presidency.
Holly Snyder Thompson, event manager for the Avid Reader, highlighted her history of professional acquaintance with Abramsky.
“This is the second time I personally have hosted Sasha,” Thompson said. “Last year, he was here with his book ‘Chaos Comes Calling.’”
As a professor of journalism at UC Davis, Abramsky’s audience included current and former students. Kaden Tam, a third-year biotechnology major, shared how he first heard about the event.
“It was over break, [Abramsky] sent out an email saying ‘Hey guys, I’m gonna release a new book,’” Tam said. “I’m also a history minor, so I like to keep up, especially on current history.”
At 6:30 p.m., Thompson welcomed the crowd before introducing Abramsky to the podium. Abramsky then genially greeted the audience.
“The book, technically, is out on the first anniversary of the inauguration,” Abramsky said. “This is kind of a preview test run, and you are my guinea pigs today.”
After a moment of silence for the recent murder of Renee Nicole Good, a Minnesota woman who was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, Abramsky described the pretense under which his newest book was composed.
“Nation magazine was asking me to do stories in January about [DOGE],” Abramsky said. “I realized this is crazy. If I leave this as an article, I’m going to get 4000 words from Nation Magazine […] So, I started writing a book.”
Abramsky proceeded with a basic synopsis of his book, highlighting the variety of federal agencies his informants were once employed at.
“I found people from the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] (CDC), the [Internal Revenue Service] (IRS), [United States Agency for International Development] (USAID), [National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health] (NIOSH),” Abramsky said. “It’s a book about what happens to 11 people when their own government declares war on them and what it did to their lives, what it did to their family’s lives and what it did to their communities.”
After reading an excerpt of the experience of Natasha Miles, a Ph.D. researcher whose job was eliminated after no longer meeting the needs of the new presidential administration, Abramsky opened up the floor for questions.
“In terms of my experience doing this, I found it humbling,” Abramsky said. “Sometimes, when I report a story, by the end I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s not so bad.’ This is different. […] The conclusion I would say is don’t turn away from this.”
Addressing the student presence in the audience, Abramsky made a call to action.
“My plea to your generation is get involved now, rather than getting involved in five or 10 years,” Abramsky said. “Authoritarian regimes thrive when people sit the fight out […] They don’t thrive when an aroused public says, ‘No way.’”
As the event began to wind down, Thompson thanked the audience for attending and acknowledged the Avid Reader as a safe space for political conversations within the community.
“I think many places can be a place where this conversation can happen, but bookstores are one of them,” Thompson said. “We hope to continue having authors like Sasha and conversations like these here.”
Wrapping up his event, Abramsky left the audience with another call to action.
“As the first anniversary of Trump’s inauguration kicks in, it’s really important to consider what happened to those federal workers,” Abramsky said. “At least half of you in this audience are much younger than me, which means you are much, much better at social media than me. Try and get some kind of conversation going among young people about this.”
“American Carnage” is available for pre-order on various online platforms. The date of official publication is set for Jan. 20.
Written By: Piper Aweeka — city@theaggie.org
