{"product_id":"muskism-a-guide-for-the-perplexed","title":"Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed","description":"\u003cp\u003eby Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHarper\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e4\/21\/2026, hardcover\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSKU: 9780063484320\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA pyrotechnic examination of Elon Musk as a symptom and avatar of our postliberal age\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEveryone's got an Elon take. He's a messiah. A menace; a genius; a clown. The verdicts differ, but they share one theme: they treat him as an individual.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMuskism\u003c\/i\u003e argues otherwise. Elon Musk isn't a glitch in the system--he is the system. His worldview promises sovereignty through technology: plug in, power up, and become self-reliant. But the more you connect, the more he owns you.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf Fordism defined the capitalism of the twentieth century, Muskism may define the twenty-first. Fordism helped build the welfare state. Musk undoes it. He thrives on dependence while preaching freedom. His cars run on subsidies; his satellites run the battlefield; his social networks train the AI that trains us.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMuskism sells itself as the future but entrenches age-old hierarchies. It offers autonomy for some and exclusion for others. It's pro-natalist but anti-immigrant, futurist but reactionary. It speaks of humanity but warns against empathy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff cut through the hype and the hate to reveal what Musk really represents: a new political economy, where to be \"free\" means to serve a Technoking. Muskism isn't about the man. It's about the machine that made him--and the world he's making next. To read \u003ci\u003eMuskism\u003c\/i\u003e is to understand the machinery that made the man, and the world he's making next, based on his philosophy of power in the spheres of: \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eSilicon Valley: \u003c\/b\u003e A sharp analysis of Elon Musk as more than a tech CEO, introducing \"Muskism\" as a new Silicon Valley paradigm shaping artificial intelligence, startups, and 21st-century capitalism.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eBig Tech, AI \u0026amp; the Future of Capitalism: \u003c\/b\u003eExamines Tesla, SpaceX, and digital platforms through concepts like techno-sovereignty, automation, and \"state symbiosis,\" revealing how Big Tech is restructuring markets, innovation, and economic power.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eGeopolitics, Power \u0026amp; the Tech Billionaire Era: \u003c\/b\u003eExplores how Musk's companies influence global politics, infrastructure, and governance--from satellite networks to energy systems--showing how private tech power is reshaping international relations.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReviews:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eMuskism\u003c\/i\u003e cuts straight to the core of the man and the moment, explaining how a mercurial, conspiracy-prone, vicious bastard can inspire loyalty and billions in other peoples' money, and the nightmare world he wants to build with those billions.\" -- Cory Doctorow, author of \u003ca title=\"Enshittification\" href=\"https:\/\/burningbooks.com\/products\/enshittification-why-everything-suddenly-got-worse-and-what-to-do-about-it\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eEnshittification\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e and editor of \u003ci\u003ePluralistic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This book is brilliant in all the ways Elon Musk is not: unflinchingly honest, actually humorous, and deeply humane. Unlike their subject, these authors punch up, not down, and they do so with erudition and precision. A wholly original and insightful analysis that deserves to be read by the billions of people impacted by Musk's pathological quest for power and wealth.\" -- Astra Taylor, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Age of Insecurity\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Impressive and unrelenting, [MUSKISM] grapples with a destructive ideology that seems poised to consume everything.\" \u003ci\u003e-- Publishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eQuinn Slobodian\u003c\/b\u003e is professor of international history at Boston University, and the author of several books including \u003ci\u003eGlobalists\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCrack-Up Capitalism \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eHayek's Bastards. \u003c\/i\u003eThey last won the National Book Critics Circle award for Criticism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBen Tarnoff\u003c\/strong\u003e is a writer and technologist based in Massachusetts and is the author of \u003cem\u003eInternet for the People\u003c\/em\u003e and the co-author of \u003cem\u003eVoices from the Valley: Tech Workers Talk About What They Do--And How They Do It\u003c\/em\u003e. He is a frequent contributor to the \u003cem\u003eNew York Review of Books, \u003c\/em\u003e and has also written for the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times, The New Yorker, \u003c\/em\u003e and the \u003cem\u003eNew\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eRepublic, \u003c\/em\u003e among other publications.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Burning Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52247824924955,"sku":null,"price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0466\/5121\/files\/61qddwMPzYL._SL1500.jpg?v=1779550775","url":"https:\/\/burningbooks.com\/products\/muskism-a-guide-for-the-perplexed","provider":"Burning Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}