In conversation with Dick Polman, "Writer in Residence" at the University of Pennsylvania, national political columnist at WHYY News and contributor to The Atlantic

Ben Fountain is the author of The New York Times bestseller Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, “a bracing, fearless and uproarious satire of how contemporary war is waged and sold to the American public” (San Francisco Chronicle). It won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and was adapted by Ang Lee into a popular film. He is also the author of the PEN/Hemingway Award-winning Brief Encounters with Che Guevera. Exploring America’s current existential crisis through wide-reaching reportage, Fountain’s new essay collection Beautiful Country Burn Again narrates the shocking and polarizing events of the 2016 American presidential election.