Sign-In
Cart
On the Eradication of Smallpox and the Intractability of Raccoons
Hardcover
Mystery & ThrillerLiterary Fiction
Publisher Price: $30.99
Publisher: Attila Press LLC
Published: Aug 11 2025
Pages: 330
Weight: 1.35
Height: 0.88 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Ned Alexander is a freshly minted journalism school graduate, under-experienced and over-educated, and he just pulled down the last job in town in Tucson, Arizona. As Ned notes, If people know you're from Harvard, they'll hire you so they can tell you what to do, and feel good when you screw up.
When proponents of the death penalty begin showing up dead themselves, Ned has no time for screw-ups, and he has to draw on all of his background, connections, and problem-solving skills to get to the bottom of matters, all the while navigating the challenges posed by a new boss, an inscrutable co-worker, and a group that advances its aims by working in the shadows and in the sunlight.
At every step-from Arizona to Texas to Tennessee to Virginia and D.C.-there are people to meet, mysteries to unravel, and local law enforcement that sees Ned not as a journalist at the nexus of a compelling story but perhaps as the answer to what's going on and an easy scapegoat.
Told in a smart, fast-paced way, On the Eradication of Smallpox and the Intractability of Raccoons is both a raucous ride and an illuminating, timeless examination of our politics, our progress and regress, and our recessions from reason.
Also in
Literary Fiction
Elizabeth Spencer: Novels & Stories (Loa #344): The Voice at the Back Door / The Light in the Piazza / Knights and Dragons / Stories
Spencer, Elizabeth
Hardcover
James Fenimore Cooper: The Leatherstocking Tales Vol. 1 (Loa #26): The Pioneers / The Last of the Mohicans / The Prairie
Cooper, James Fenimore
Hardcover
The Underworld U.S.A. Trilogy, Volume I: American Tabloid, the Cold Six Thousand; Introduction by Thomas Mallon
Ellroy, James
Hardcover
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Paperback
Philip Roth: Novels 1973-1977 (Loa #165): The Great American Novel / My Life as a Man / The Professor of Desire
Roth, Philip
Hardcover
The Patrick Melrose Novels: Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, and Mother's Milk
St Aubyn, Edward
Paperback