Rasputin Swims the Potomac

Ben Fountain

Preorder
Book cover for Rasputin Swims the Potomac
Image for variant 9781250776549
Book cover for Rasputin Swims the Potomac
Image for variant 9781250776549

Rasputin Swims the Potomac

Rasputin Swims the Potomac

Ben Fountain

View full details

Description

ONE OF LITHUB"S MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2026

From the award-winning, bestselling author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk comes a biting satire of American politics and a searingly intelligent novel about the cruel absurdities of contemporary life, centering on a world champion professional wrestler with presidential ambitions

Reporter Clarence Thomas Jr. is looking for a great story, former country music teen star Faith Spack has parlayed her fame into a job at the White House, and the two-term incumbent president is campaigning for a constitutionally dubious third term.

After an outbreak at a campaign rally, a mysterious new pandemic of "weeping sickness" sweeps the nation, threatening the president's hold on the Oval Office. Desperate to retain power, he enlists the mystical pro wrestler Rasputin to help ensure his reelection and guarantee additional seasons of his presidential reality TV show, The Real West Wing.

But as Rasputin's appeal threatens to exceed the president's, and the wrestler's supposedly supernatural powers start to seem like the real thing, the campaign finds itself trapped in a spandex-clad destiny no number of executive orders can control, one in which both Clarence and Faith are compelled to play increasingly large parts.

Hilarious, compelling, and tragically relevant, Rasputin Swims the Potomac is both an escape and a warning, a scathing satire that explores the twists and turns of American democracy as it hurtles toward authoritarianism.

Critical Reviews

"Fountain turns this scathing satire to the most relevant story of our time: the twists and turns of American democracy as it hurtles toward authoritarianism." --LitHub

"Fiction is truer than real life in Rasputin Swims the Potomac, an audacious, rip-roaring, and terrifying good time. Don't read ABOUT this book--it will sound too crazy! Dive in and see for yourself... Ben Fountain is a prophet, comic genius and a master storyteller." --Maria Semple, bestselling author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette and Go Gentle

"[RASPUTIN SWIMS THE POTOMAC is] a welcome bolt of brilliantly zany fantasia for our grim and dour times.... Fountain's sweet spot is the intersection between reality TV and reality, an intellectual and comedic playground which extends here to the world of wrestling.... Fountain goes on to have about as much fun as you can have with the 26 letters of the alphabet. A comic masterpiece. The current administration is finally getting the book it deserves." --Kirkus (starred review)

"If anyone can capture the stupefying stupidity of today's politics, Fountain can." --Publisher's Weekly

"A withering satire...timely and terrifying, Fountain's version of the current and potentially future state of American politics and culture is simultaneously wild and absurd yet eerily plausible." --Booklist (starred review)

Publishing Information

Publisher: Flatiron Books
Pub date: 2026-06-09
Length: 416 pages

The Allstora Membership

Membership Perks:

  • Save 30% on all online store purchases
  • Exclusive access to author's content
  • You pay less, but authors still earn double

Membership Terms:

First Month: $0.00
Monthly price: $5.00
  • To access membership discount simply log in and add to cart, discount applied automatically.
  • One month free trial, cancel anytime. Membership renews on the 15th of each month.