White Noise

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • An “eerie, brilliant, and touching” (The New York Times) modern classic about mass culture and the numbing effects of technology.

“Tremendously funny . . . A stunning performance from one of our most intelligent novelists.” —The New Republic

The inspiration for the award-winning major motion picture starring Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig

White Noise follows Jack Gladney, who teaches Hitler Studies at a liberal arts college in Middle America. His colleagues include New York expatriates eager to immerse themselves in “American magic and dread.” Jack and his fourth wife, Babette, are bound by their love, fear of death, and their four ultramodern offspring. Together, they navigate the usual rocky passages of family life against the background babble of brand-name consumerism.

Then a lethal black chemical cloud floats over their lives—an “airborne toxic event” unleashed by an industrial accident. This menacing cloud is a more urgent and visible version of the “white noise” engulfing the Gladney family. It consists of radio transmissions, sirens, microwaves, ultrasonic appliances, and TV murmurings—pulsing with life, yet suggesting something ominous.