Overview

If I Am Coming to Your Town, Something Terrible Has Happened offers one journalist’s version of the truth about how we ended up here and how nasty, sad, and disturbing it really is. This is the real, unvarnished history whose first draft was written in the same chaotic and roughshod way that it always has been—by some weary reporter just trying to figure shit out. But this isn’t just a story about Justin Glawe and his experiences as a domestic war correspondent. It’s about how the things we love—or thought we loved—can break us. From long-forgotten deaths in his Midwestern hometown and far northern Minnesota, through the ravages of endless police killings, to the border and its desperate migrants, in small towns torn apart by spree killings, at the Vegas massacre, the Dallas massacre, Ferguson, and through the stories of corrupt politicians and dirty cops as reported from dive bars, cheap motels, and truck stops across the nation, readers of If I Am Coming to Your Town, Something Terrible Has Happened will see through visceral writing what most people never see: the seams of an entire country tearing apart in front of their very eyes. But just because something breaks you doesn’t mean you have to stay broken. Things may be falling apart all around us, but we don’t always have to bring it home. You can leave your gas mask—and your Jameson—at the door and be human again.

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9781588385734

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Reviews

This book belongs in the tradition of urgent, poetic war narrative, from Michael Herr's Dispatches to Phil Klay's Redeployment. What sets Glawe apart is that the wars he writes about are here at home. This guy marches right into domestic warzones to get the straight dope, the only writer I know who owns his own gas mask and Kevlar. He's fearless. And like all great writers, a little insane. This book is a wild, eye-opening ride. -- Harrison Scott Key * author of The World's Largest Man and How to Stay Married *

This book belongs in the tradition of urgent, poetic war narrative, from Michael Herr's Dispatches to Phil Klay's Redeployment. What sets Glawe apart is that the wars he writes about are here at home. This guy marches right into domestic war zones to get the straight dope, the only writer I know who owns his own gas mask and Kevlar. He's fearless. And like all great writers, a little insane. This book is a wild, eye-opening ride. -- Harrison Scott Key * author of The World's Largest Man and How to Stay Married * Justin Glawe is one of the toughest, most dedicated reporters working today. -- Noah Shachtman * contributing writer and former editor-in-chief at Rolling Stone * Man, Glawe grabs you with the title of this book and just doesn't let go. You'll learn three things inside: Street reporting is the best job in the world. Street reporting is the worst job in the world. And only a lunatic would do it. -- Charlie LeDuff * Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist *

Author Information

JUSTIN GLAWE is a writer and independent journalist who has covered much of the chaos, violence, and unrest of the past decade of American life. Originally from Peoria, Illinois, Glawe got his start in journalism at small newspapers in the Midwest. Since then, his work has appeared in The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The Bulwark, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Esquire, The Daily Beast, VICE, and other news publications. He lives in Savannah, Georgia, with his wife, two dogs, and many guitars that he enjoys playing with his band, the Savannah Morning Blues.

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