Bloodbath Nation

'Remarkably powerful.' Washington Post

'A compelling polemic, dismaying and often moving.' Jake Kerridge, Daily Telegraph


No issue divides Americans more deeply than the debate around guns. Paul Auster begins his examination of gun violence by looking into his own past, knowing first-hand how families can be wrecked by a single deadly act.

Bloodbath Nation traces the origins of America's obsession with guns through one hundred and eighty years of history. The armed conflict against the native population and the brutal methods used to protect the institution of slavery created a nation that has never fully come to terms with its own past.


This fraught heritage still hovers over the social and political landscape of the present moment. Change is necessary but it seems all but impossible. Auster asks the ultimate question: what kind of country do Americans want to live in? The answer, he argues, will not come from the legislature, but from the American people themselves.