Something New Under the Sun

‘An urgent novel about our very near future, and a deeply addictive pleasure’ Katie Kitamura, author of Intimacies ‘Magnificent and stunning’ Jeff VanderMeer, author of Hummingbird Salamander ‘An immense achievement. Masterful and merciless’ Olivia Sudjic, author of Asylum Road A bold, addictive and urgent new novel about capitalism, environmental collapse and our near future. What is really going on? Patrick Hamlin has come to Hollywood to see his novel be adapted for the screen, but why does he get the feeling that the film project is a smokescreen for something else? Does Cassidy Carter, the troubled starlet due to play the lead, know something he doesn’t? And what is the truth about WAT-R, the synthetic water everyone drinks in LA? Sharply funny, alluring and devastating, Something New Under the Sun is an unmissable novel for our present moment. ‘Sun-drenched, sharply observed and swift-moving… strange and new’ Guardian ‘Profoundly affecting – somehow both funny and deeply unsettling’ Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind ‘Expertly conjures California noir filtered through the ambient and not-so-ambient apocalypse’ Emma Cline, author of The Girls A WHITE REVIEW BOOK OF THE YEAR • A LIT HUB BEST BOOK OF 2021

‘An urgent novel about our very near future, and a deeply addictive pleasure’ Katie Kitamura, author of Intimacies ‘Magnificent and stunning’ Jeff VanderMeer, author of Hummingbird Salamander ‘An immense achievement. Masterful and merciless’ Olivia Sudjic, author of Asylum Road A bold, addictive and urgent new novel about capitalism, environmental collapse and our near future. What is really going on? Patrick Hamlin has come to Hollywood to see his novel be adapted for the screen, but why does he get the feeling that the film project is a smokescreen for something else? Does Cassidy Carter, the troubled starlet due to play the lead, know something he doesn’t? And what is the truth about WAT-R, the synthetic water everyone drinks in LA? Sharply funny, alluring and devastating, Something New Under the Sun is an unmissable novel for our present moment. ‘Sun-drenched, sharply observed and swift-moving… strange and new’ Guardian ‘Profoundly affecting – somehow both funny and deeply unsettling’ Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind ‘Expertly conjures California noir filtered through the ambient and not-so-ambient apocalypse’ Emma Cline, author of The Girls A WHITE REVIEW BOOK OF THE YEAR • A LIT HUB BEST BOOK OF 2021

Humans have long transformed the planet, scratching its surface for stones and ores, planting and harvesting crops, sparking fires for light and heat. But since the dawn of industrialisation and especially since 1950, economic, technological and demographic changes have driven rapid and ongoing shifts in patterns of pollution, human health and rising sea level and temperatures. Something New Under the Sun offers a new way to understand twentieth-century history: through environmental change. Threading lucid scientific explanations with captivating stories, J. R. McNeill’s prize-winning history chronicles humanity’s deepening imprint on the planet in an even-handed account that seeks, above all, to explain. With updated data, stories and new discussions of climate change and climate politics, this paperback edition remains the definitive account of the most urgent topic of our time.