{"product_id":"kraft-9781250800282","title":"Kraft","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJonas Lüscher, the author of \u003ci\u003eBarbarian Spring\u003c\/i\u003e--\"a most humorous and convincing satire of the ridiculous excesses of those responsible for the financial crisis\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e)--returns to the topic of neoliberal arrogance in his Swiss Book Prize-winning, hilarious, and wicked novel about a man facing the ruins of his life, and his world.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRichard Kraft, a German professor of rhetoric and aging Reaganite and \u003ci\u003eKnight Rider\u003c\/i\u003e fan, is unhappily married and badly in debt. He sees no way out of his rut until he is invited to participate in a competition to be held in California and sponsored by a Silicon Valley tycoon and \"techno-optimist.\" The contest is to answer a literal \"million-dollar question\" each competitor must compose an eighteen-minute lecture on why our world is still, despite all evidence, the best of all possible worlds, and how we might improve it even further through technology. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEntering into a surreal American landscape, Kraft soon finds what's left of his life falling to pieces as he struggles to justify as \"best\" a planet in the hands of such blithe neoliberal cupidity as he encounters on his odyssey to California. Still, with the prize money in his pocket, perhaps Kraft could finally buy his way to a new life . . . But what contortions--physical and philosophical--will he have to subject himself to in order to claim it? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJonas Lüscher's second novel, \u003ci\u003eKraft\u003c\/i\u003e, is a hilarious and wicked tale about a man facing the ruins of his life, and his world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Picador USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/09\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781250800282\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224","brand":"Jonas L\u0026#252;scher","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41229656981685,"sku":"9781250800282","price":14.45,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_39ad3a26-38c2-41a6-93f5-171eb0e08478.jpg?v=1634042112","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/kraft-9781250800282","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}