The Insurrectionist

In Russell Working’s satirical novel The Insurrectionist, Chicago Bullet newspaper editors renege on their promise to send reporter Ian Landquart to the Paris bureau. Instead, he is demoted to a suburban office. After quarreling with an editor, he is forced to spend his days redacting racist language from the historical archives. To salvage his career, he investigates an elephant-owning farmer who protested nonviolently on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. But as Ian gins up an FBI probe, he learns that his progressive teenage daughter is dating the farmer’s conservative, gun-owning son—ensnaring her in the case. With a Swiftian eye, Working mercilessly lampoons wokeness, modern journalism, and abusive prosecutions.