The Five Books of (Robert) Moses: A Novel

After a domestic terrorist detonates a dirty bomb in Manhattan in 1970, rendering the borough uninhabitable, FBI agent Uli Sarkisian enters a transformed United States facing an unprecedented immigration crisis: relocating millions of its own citizens. The federal government converts an abandoned military installation in the Nevada desert into "Rescue City" to house them. As the military withdraws, residents are left increasingly to their own devices, and tribal warfare merges with democracy to form a "gangocracy"—a frightening evolution of the two-party system. Years later, Uli travels through this strange new New York City, confronting his past while trying to escape alive. The novel alternates between Rescue City's chaotic present and earlier twentieth-century events that led to Manhattan's destruction. It follows legendary urban planner Robert Moses through his early years and introduces his older brother Paul, a brilliant electrical engineer whose jealousy and anger at Robert's "urban renewal" projects' devastation lead to catastrophic consequences. The narrative examines today's political chaos through historical perspective, featuring fictional versions of real historical figures including politicians, artists, revolutionaries, and poets.