{"product_id":"muskism-a-guide-for-the-perplexed-9780063484320","title":"Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eMuskism\u003c\/i\u003e cuts straight to the core of the man and the moment, explaining how a mercurial, conspiracy-prone, vicious bastard can inspire loyalty and billions in other peoples' money, and the nightmare world he wants to build with those billions.\" -Cory Doctorow, author of \u003ci\u003eEnshittification\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e Most Anticipated Book of the Year - A \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times \u003c\/i\u003eMost Anticipated Nonfiction Book of the Year - A \u003ci\u003eKirkus \u003c\/i\u003eMost Anticipated Nonfiction Book of Spring 2026- A \u003ci\u003eLiterary Hub \u003c\/i\u003eMost Anticipated Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA pyrotechnic examination of Elon Musk as a symptom and avatar of our postliberal age\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEveryone's got an Elon take. He's a messiah. A menace; a genius; a clown. The verdicts differ, but they share one theme: they treat him as an individual.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMuskism\u003c\/i\u003e argues otherwise. Elon Musk isn't a glitch in the system--he is the system. His worldview promises sovereignty through technology: plug in, power up, and become self-reliant. But the more you connect, the more he owns you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf Fordism defined the capitalism of the twentieth century, Muskism may define the twenty-first. Fordism helped build the welfare state. Musk undoes it. He thrives on dependence while preaching freedom. His cars run on subsidies; his satellites run the battlefield; his social networks train the AI that trains us.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMuskism sells itself as the future but entrenches age-old hierarchies. It offers autonomy for some and exclusion for others. It's pro-natalist but anti-immigrant, futurist but reactionary. It speaks of humanity but warns against empathy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eQuinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff cut through the hype and the hate to reveal what Musk really represents: a new political economy, where to be \"free\" means to serve a Technoking. Muskism isn't about the man. It's about the machine that made him--and the world he's making next. To read \u003ci\u003eMuskism\u003c\/i\u003e is to understand the machinery that made the man, and the world he's making next, based on his philosophy of power in the spheres of: \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eSilicon Valley: \u003c\/b\u003e A sharp analysis of Elon Musk as more than a tech CEO, introducing \"Muskism\" as a new Silicon Valley paradigm shaping artificial intelligence, startups, and 21st-century capitalism.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eBig Tech, AI \u0026amp; the Future of Capitalism: \u003c\/b\u003eExamines Tesla, SpaceX, and digital platforms through concepts like techno-sovereignty, automation, and \"state symbiosis,\" revealing how Big Tech is restructuring markets, innovation, and economic power.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eGeopolitics, Power \u0026amp; the Tech Billionaire Era: \u003c\/b\u003eExplores how Musk's companies influence global politics, infrastructure, and governance--from satellite networks to energy systems--showing how private tech power is reshaping international relations.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSlobodian, Quinn:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eQuinn Slobodian\u003c\/b\u003e is professor of international history at Boston University, and the author or editor of seven books translated into ten languages including, \u003ci\u003eHayek's Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ and the Capitalism of the Far Right\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCrack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World without Democracy\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eGlobalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTarnoff, Ben:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBen Tarnoff\u003c\/strong\u003e is a writer and technologist based in Massachusetts and is the author of \u003cem\u003eInternet for the People\u003c\/em\u003e and the co-author of \u003cem\u003eVoices from the Valley: Tech Workers Talk About What They Do--And How They Do It\u003c\/em\u003e. He is a frequent contributor to the \u003cem\u003eNew York Review of Books, \u003c\/em\u003e and has also written for the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times, The New Yorker, \u003c\/em\u003e and the \u003cem\u003eNew\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eRepublic, \u003c\/em\u003e among other publications.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52196642423058,"sku":"9780063484320","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a874fa2f-ab53-420a-ad49-cb92ff2bf6bd.jpg?v=1776156320","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/muskism-a-guide-for-the-perplexed-9780063484320","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}