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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
Some violence including street crime and the historical violence of nuclear anxiety; moderate throughout
Language
Some
Adult language consistent with literary fiction of the era
Sexual Content
Some
Some adult sexual content across different characters and timelines; handled with literary restraint
Substance Use
Some
Some drinking and drug use as part of the social fabric of different American eras
Emotional Intensity
Some
Moderate; the psychological weight of living under nuclear threat and the question of what holds American identity together
What this book is about
Don DeLillo's epic begins with the 1951 Giants-Dodgers pennant game — and the atomic bomb test on the same day — and spirals outward across five decades of American Cold War culture. One of the great American novels, Underworld connects waste, nuclear anxiety, baseball, street art, mass media, and American identity in a work of extraordinary ambition and scope.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Extremely long and ambitious novel (800+ pages)
Dense literary fiction requiring patience
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