In Jess Walter’s So Far Gone, a hermit-like retired journalist is forced to confront the radically alien beliefs of his former son-in-law, who has joined the Church of the Blessed Fire, a feeder organization for a far-right militia group. In Karen Russell’s The Antidote, the Prairie Witch is the communal balm her Nebraska townspeople need as they face the 1930s Dust Bowl, a calamity that feels as if it’s been sent by God. In Nicole Cuffy’s O Sinners!, a young journalist becomes entranced with a mysterious cult called “the nameless” led by a Vietnam War veteran as he tries to understand its origins in the aftermath of his father’s death. These books take place in a physical landscape —the American West —where religion has both shaped and reflected residents’ most deeply held beliefs about individualism, community, sin, and redemption. Moderated by critic and National Book Critics Circle board member Lauren LeBlanc.
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