In Persuasion Nation

In Persuasion Nation (2006) is a satirical short story collection by the American author George Saunders. Its twelve stories were published between 1999 and 2005 in a number of magazines and literary journals, including The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, and McSweeney's. Of In Persuasion Nation, Salon's Laura Miller wrote, "When he's firing on all cylinders, no one beats George Saunders at rendering the comic nightmare of life as a wage slave in contemporary America."

The first story, "I CAN SPEAK!TM," takes the form of a long letter written by a representative of a company that sells a product called I CAN SPEAK. It addresses Mrs. Faniglia, a customer who is unhappy with the purchase. The product is a latex mask fitted with tiny speakers that, when placed on an infant's head, translates the baby's babbling into adult speech. The letter writer seems so convinced of the product's merits that he suggests wearing it will stave off "possibly lifelong psychological damage," adding, "Now, am I saying that your Derek runs the risk of feeling bad about himself as a grown-up because as a baby he felt he didn't know how to talk very good? It is not for me to say, Mrs. Faniglia, I am only in Sales. But I will say I am certainly not taking any chances with Billy." As the story goes on, however, it becomes clear that the letter writer is more concerned with his lost sales commission than with the well-being of toddlers.

In "My Flamboyant Grandson," Mr. Petrillo feels anxiety over whether his young grandson Teddy is gay. Teddy frequently sings and dances and so, regardless of his sexuality, the narrator decides to take him to a Broadway show called Babar Sings. They are initially turned away and told they need to receive special vouchers from the play's corporate sponsors before they can enter. Here, America is depicted as a consumerist dystopia. Citizens are forced to wear Everly Strips on their shoes, which are special barcodes that summon customized advertisements when you walk in public. After Mr. Petrillo walks all over town obtaining vouchers until his feet bleed, a Citizen Helper writes him a ticket for taking the Strips off because they were hurting his already injured feet. Rather than wait for the ticket and miss the play, Mr, Petrillo and Teddy speed off to the ticket office and make it in time for the curtain.



"Jon" follows a group of teenagers who are raised from birth with no other purpose than to test marketing campaigns. Even the ones who escape are unable to communicate with the world except through the clichés and vocabulary of American advertising.

"My Amendment" is a letter to an editor written by a man who is so angry about gender roles in America that he denounces not only same-sex marriage but also "samish-sex marriage" where the man is too effeminate or the woman is too masculine.

The Red Bow," the winner of a National Magazine Award, is about a town gripped by anti-pet hysteria. A pet-killing mob forms after the narrator's daughter is supposedly killed by infected dogs. A hair bow belonging to the daughter keeps getting bigger and redder as more and more pets are needlessly slaughtered.



In "Christmas," Saunders recalls his days working as a roofer at the age of twenty-six, after being forced to move back home to Chicago "at the embarrassing end of a series of attempts at channeling Kerouac."

"Adams" is a paranoid rant by a man who is gravely terrified by an upstairs neighbor.

The eighth story, "93990" (McSweeney's, 2000), follows Test Monkey #93990 who outlives the nineteen other test monkeys despite being administered far more of a toxic drug than the rest. In the end, the monkey is killed anyway so the scientists can perform an autopsy.



"Brad Carrigan, American" concerns a reality show about an affluent husband and his family. After Carrigan expresses thoughts and feelings that the television studio deems too complex for their show, he is kicked off the air and forced to exist in a hazy limbo of non-televised ether.

In "In Persuasion Nation," a community of commercial mascots mounts an insurgency against their corporate overlords. They include a woman who leaves her husband for a Twinkie and a teenager who is dismembered by his grandparents because he doesn't like Doritos.

In "The Barber's Unhappiness," a barber’s sanity slowly unravels.



"CommComm," centers on a public relations representative for an air force base who lives with the ghosts of his parents who were slaughtered by Latvians.

In Persuasion Nation is a grimly humorous take on America's consumerism-damaged culture.