CHINA LAKE

A BOOK ABOUT THE STRANGEST PLACE IN AMERICA… AND A TECHNOLOGY THAT WILL SAVE OR END OUR WORLD

“An apocalypse of the weird. A brilliant, often hilarious, and thoroughly original work of nonfiction.”

Silhouette of a goat with shaggy fur and curved horns.

—Richard Preston, best-selling author of The Hot Zone

"University of Iowa Press" text on a dark background.
Book cover of "China Lake" by Barret Baumgart, featuring rocky terrain with mountains in the background. A quote from Richard Preston praises the book. Award graphic shows "Winner of the Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction 2016."

Winner 2016 Iowa Prize for Literary Nonfiction. Named a best book of 2017 by Brooklyn Rail, Kirkus.

Published by University of Iowa Press.

“An astonishing debut.”

—John D’Agata, author of The Lifespan of a Fact

“A scream into the void... A devastating artistic achievement.”

—Anna Call, Foreword Reviews

“An urgent and terrifying cultural reflection, a startling look in the mirror.”

—Kirkus (Starred Review)

“Baumgart's ecstatic prose achieves a kind of transcendence.”

—Landon Bates, Los Angeles Review of Books

“Haunting and hallucinatory... consistently masterful...”

—Christine Chi, Brooklyn Rail

Ancient petroglyphs depicting animals and symbols on a rock surface in a desert landscape.

“An important book, marking the appearance of a talented and distinctive new literary voice.”

—David S. Whitley, PhD, author, Cave Paintings and the Human Spirit: The Origin of Creativity and Belief

“Remarkable… terrifying… China Lake gets at something alarming and true about nature and human nature.”

—David Shields, author, Reality Hunger