The Storm Is Here

An American Crucible

By: Luke Mogelson

Narrated by: Rob Shapiro

The New Yorker's award-winning war correspondent returns to his own country to chronicle its accelerating civic breakdown, in an indelible eyewitness narrative of startling explanatory power

After years of living abroad and covering the Global War on Terrorism, Luke Mogelson went home in early 2020 to report on the social discord that the pandemic was bringing to the fore across the US. An assignment that began with right-wing militias in Michigan soon took him to an uprising for racial justice in Minneapolis, then to antifascist clashes in the streets of Portland, and ultimately to an attempted insurrection in Washington, D.C. His dispatches for The New Yorker revealed a larger story with ominous implications for America. They were only the beginning.

This is the definitive eyewitness account of how—during a season of sickness, economic uncertainty, and violence—a large segment of Americans became convinced of the need to battle against dark forces plotting to take their country away from them. It builds month by month, through vivid depictions of events on the ground, from the onset of COVID-19 to the attack on the US Capitol—during which Mogelson followed the mob into the Senate chamber—and its aftermath. Bravely reported and beautifully written, The Storm Is Here is both a unique record of a pivotal moment in American history and an urgent warning about those to come.

©2022 Luke Mogelson (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Behind The Scenes With America’s Collective Psychosis

This is the best, most depressing, most horrific and bravest account yet of 2020 and the Jan. 6 riots. As Mr. Fogelman says, if there is another American civil war, it will be waged by people who are laboring under delusions. Required reading.

Frightening, important, well told

Everyone talks about how divided, polarized, and hyper-partisan our country is, but even if you watch and read the news I doubt most people know the full extent of the violent, authoritarian movements that threaten our world. Mogelson does a spectacular job of relating the whole picture, the competing pressures, the global pandemic, the historical context, the names of the players, the money that’s being made. I cannot do this book justice. It isn’t always a pleasant story to listen to, but it’s incredibly eye-opening. It’s important to understand what happened on January 6th and the groups that still plan to “save” America through violence and intimidation.

Scary and anger inducing

This book brought me back to January 6th where, while working a few miles away from the Capitol a group of delusional fascists tried to destroy our democracy. What has angered me all the more since is the feeling that it was just a dress rehearsal. Reading about the characters involved, I still cannot fathom how we let them get this far

A most essential read

I don’t think I’ve ever been this afraid after reading a book since reading “The Alienist” and that was a historical novel; this is happening now! The politics, the reactionaries, the violence in thought word & deed and the deep felt foolery that has been perpetuating for too many years is fomenting a new war for the control of our democracy and our freedoms which we have taken for granted since WWII. I recommend this book to anyone who doubts that herd mentality isn’t a danger to every citizen both present and future.

Engrossing

I thought I understood what led up to January 6, 2021. But this book showed me a greater depth and history and perspective that I didn’t have before. The chapter where the author is at the Capitol on January 6 was harrowing all over again. It was a hard book in some ways, but I’m so glad that I have listened to it. I have a deeper understanding now of the forces at play in American political life.

Brutally honest, eye-opening look at the USA

This is a devastating, though not unexpected, look at the United States in in 2022. The insurrection is in the rear view mirror but the political unrest that caused it is still around us. This eye opening account is a must read/listen.

A dispassionate and troubling portrait of far right rage

A deeply insightful narrative of the Jan 6th mob from a war correspondent who embedded himself in it. He compares the self-described defenders of America with freedom fighters he reported on from foreign wars. In other war zones, warriors articulate a rational ideology for their fight, where as here, the far right’s thinking is fueled by delusion. Regular people caught up in a toxic net of misinformation and QAnon hysteria, are whipped into a frenzy of losing their country in a zero sum game.

Beautifully written and narrated.

If you want to understand - deeply- Jan 6th, including from the mob perspective, this is your book. If you want to appreciate the power of disinformation and the susceptibility of the disaffected to it, this is your book.

If you do not yet understand why you should be afraid for your country, this is your book.

A bit overly detailed and slightly tendentious look at the origins of America’s raging culture wars

Mogelson makes a heroic effort to track the origins of some of the nasty racial/culture wars plaguing America today and for about a decade; the result is a consistently engaging and informative, if somewhat over-long narrative, performed well by the voice actor. There’s a subtle but detectable bias in Mogelson’s work for the progressive end of the culture-war spectrum, but he makes a serious effort to remain neutral and constructs a persuasive light-touch argument against Trumpers, managing to be physically present for some of the most significant culture-war flashpoints of the Trump era (Jan. 6th, George Floyd); overall an excellent tour through the wreckage Trump and his followers left behind.

From inside Jan 6th.

Excellent retelling of events leading to Jan 6. compelling story and very good writing. Well done!