There’s something uniquely demoralizing about editing and editing and editing a book manuscript. The words all start to blur together and you start thinking that every sentence is crap, no one will ever want to read this, why bother completing the book. I was definitely in this state. And then… my publisher sent me the book cover and I squealed for joy at just how lovely it is. And it gave me hope. Check out this beauty:

And yes… that’s a wobbly Jenga tower comprised of pieces made from census documentation cuz one of the core arguments in the book is that we’re living in a world of “Jenga Politics” where different actors are pulling out pieces of our administrative infrastructure and putting pressure on top. Civil servants are exhausted, but they’re trying to keep the tower from falling.

And now that I’ve seen the beautiful cover, I can’t wait for you to read this book! And to come celebrate with me! I am starting to build a book tour so hopefully I will come to a city near you. But, in the meantime, here are some of the fun things I get to share:

• My book won the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Prize! Thank you to the kind people at Columbia Journalism School and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University for giving me wind beneath my wings!
• Pre-Order the book! And if you order it from the University of Chicago Press website, you can save 30% by using the code UCPNEW. But feel free to order from your local bookstore or wherever else you want!
• DC folks: Save the Date (9/25)! I am ecstatic that Politics & Prose is hosting me at their Wharf venue on September 25 at 7PM (the day after the book goes on sale!). I hope lots of folks will come out to celebrate! There will be books available! And a signing!
• Virtual Folks: On the eve of the book launch (9/23), Dan Bouk and I will discuss the book in a virtual event hosted by Data & Society. More info on that will come shortly, but make sure to sign up to the D&S newsletter!