America's Report Card

“At last – a post-9⁄11 novel with imagination, guts, and integrity, and one that actually shows real people being sucked into the American nightmare. John McNally is a marvelous writer and should be applauded for producing this timely, stylish, and often hilarious book. This is Don DeLillo’s White Noise for the overeducated, underemployed generation of Americans who, for the first time ever, will be poorer than their parents.” – Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting“It has been a long time since I’ve been so excited, provoked, and haunted by a novel as I have been by America’s Report Card. I want to run out and buy multiple copies – for my kids’ teachers, my co-workers … even my stupid senator. I flat-out can’t wait to talk about this book, which is a brilliant, laugh-out-loud satire of contemporary American life with a tender, angry heart and enormous compassion for the little guy. You’ve got to read it. John McNally is emerging as one of the best American writers of the new century.” – Dan Chaon, author of You Remind Me of Me and Among the Missing“In America’s Report Card, John McNally takes on domestic espionage, the American school system, and the mutative nature of love. Brilliantly written, McNally’s unblinking novel is an earnest and hilarious portrayal of the American psyche at its worst and its best.” – Erika Krouse, author of Come Up and See Me Sometime“John McNally’s new novel is keenly biting social satire – but with a living human heart inside its armor of wit. America’s Report Card will leave you both laughing and wondering.” – Madison Smartt Bell, author of The Stone That the Builder Refused“This is a great book. In America’s Report Card, John McNally manages to be fierce and funny, darkly strange and completely relevant. For all the bottled rage in this book, it is ultimately a story about human connection, and an enduring one at that.” – Tom Barbash, author of The Last Good Chance and On Top of the World

John McNally is the author of two novels, The Book of Ralph and America’s Report Card, and a short story collection, Troublemakers. His next book, Ghosts of Chicago, a collection of short stories, will be published this fall. A native of Chicago, he lives with his wife, Amy, in North Carolina, where he is associate professor of English at Wake Forest University. The first word he ever spoke was “Batman,” who has remained, in his darker incarnations, his favorite superhero. John’s first creative work, a play written in the fourth grade, featured an overweight superhero who gets stuck inside a phone booth while changing into his costume. He is happy to return to the genre, albeit thirty-four years later.

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