The Inheritance

In The Inheritance: An American Tragedy in Five Acts, The New York Times Magazine contributing writer and 2022 New America Fellow Janet Reitman traces the lives of nine Americans over three decades, offering a vivid account of a nation in crisis.

A thrill-seeking former Navy pilot chases adventure in Afghanistan, while in suburbia, his teenage son spirals into extremism. 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. 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. An idealistic young attorney defends a Palestinian engineer she believes is wrongly accused of funding Hamas. These four people, and five others, struggle to find their way in a country reimagining itself in the wake of 9/11.

From the bucolic suburbs of Boston to the immigrant enclaves of Dallas, from the deserts of Iraq to the encrypted chatrooms that fuel hatred and extremism, The Inheritance unfolds in repeating narratives of people moving through the decades, from the end of the Reagan era to the present day, painting a sweeping and deeply affective portrait of how a country revered for its democratic ideals became a nation defined by its fears.

Join the New America Fellows Program for a conversation about The Inheritance.

Copies of The Inheritance are available for purchase here through our bookselling partner Solid State Books.

Editorial disclosure: The views expressed in this book and event are solely those of the author and speakers. They do not reflect the views of New America, its staff, fellows, funders, or board of directors.