Megan Garber

From America's reality-TV-star-cum-ex-president to our expertly curated Instagram feeds, it's never been less clear what's real and what's been simply fabricated for our entertainment.

SCREEN PEOPLE is a deep dive into what happens when we cede our reality to spectacle. Garber explains how the internet-inflected culture of the present moment conditions us, every day, to see each other less as people than as characters in an ongoing show, and how some of our most chronic and harmful social conditions - loneliness, depression, mistrust, misinformation, cynicism - stem from our demand for diversion.

In ten chapters, each themed around an element of stagecraft - from 'The Producers', who edit our reality, to 'The Props', the strangers we turn into objects of our amusement, all the way through to 'the Haters', the worshipful Qanon-types who expect the prophecies of their anonymous leader to play out on live TV - Garber builds toward an argument as urgent as it is ironic: our fun is quickly becoming our emergency. And we can't understand our politics without first understanding our culture.

Part critical investigation, part manifesto, part fan's diary, SCREEN PEOPLE will be an eye-opening journey into the cultural underbelly of our present malaise.

How We Entertained Ourselves into a State of Emergency

Screen People

The Best Writing from The Atlantic’s Technology Channel

Jennifer Senior

Derek Thompson

Kaitlyn Tiffany

Sophie Gilbert

Lenika Cruz

Lizzie Plaugic

The first six Atlantic Editions in a boxed collection. On BTS: Pop Music, Fandom, Sincerity by Lenika Cruz A love letter to Korean pop sensation BTS and an ode to fandom. On Misdirection: Magic, Mayhem, American Politics by Megan Garber An investigation of misinformation and fracturing in contemporary American political culture. On Womanhood: Bodies, Literature, Choice by Sophie Gilbert Twelve incisive, probing essays on womanhood in popular culture. On Grief: Love, Loss, Memory by Jennifer Senior The unflinching Pulitzer Prize-winning essay on mourning and recovery in the wake of an inconceivable tragedy. On Nobody Famous: Guesting, Gossiping, Gallivanting by Kaitlyn Tiffany and Lizzie Plaugic Dispatches from the everyday adventures of two regular women in New York. On Work: Money, Meaning, Identity by Derek Thompson A rousing commentary on the history of labor and the future of work. Atlantic Editions draw fromThe Atlantic's rich literary history and robust coverage of the driving cultural and political forces of today. Each book features reported essays by Atlantic writers from the magazine's 165-year archive.

Atlantic Editions 1-6 Boxed Set

Megan Garber

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