Janet Reitman in Conversation with George Packer: The Inheritance

A stunning work of narrative nonfiction that traces the lives of nine Americans over three decades, award-winning New York Times Magazine writer Janet Reitman’s new book offers a vivid account of a nation in crisis. In conversation with National Book Award-winner George Packer, she takes us deep into the lives of these indelible characters, and into the years of reporting, investigation and immersion that brought their stories to the page.

A thrill-seeking former Navy pilot chases adventure in Afghanistan, while in suburbia, his teenage son spirals into extremism. A young Marine who sees himself as a true-blue American goes to war in Iraq, comes home broken, and is reborn as white nationalist. The grandson of African freedom fighters joins the FBI to save America from terrorism and ends up terrorizing the African immigrants he’d sworn to protect. Moving from Boston suburbs and immigrant communities in Dallas to the war in Iraq, American courtrooms, and online spaces where extremism flourished, Janet Reitman’s The Inheritance profiles nine Americans whose lives were unexpectedly upended in the wake of 9/11 — and how a culture of war and surveillance reshaped the country around them. Based on extensive reporting and told with the momentum and intimacy of a novel, it is an urgent account of American disillusionment, painting a sweeping portrait of how a country revered for its democratic ideals became a nation defined by its fears.

In a conversation marking the book’s launch, hear two of America’s leading narrative journalists as they discuss the Reitman’s remarkable new book: the lives behind the headlines, the power of long-form reporting to illuminate the forces shaping history, and how the aftermath of 9/11 continues to shape our present.

“The Inheritance is a symphonic dirge, brilliantly composed, intimate and haunting, about the human toll of American self-destruction in the age of terror.” — George Packer