Ben Fountain Author of Rasputin Swims the Potomac

Rasputin Swims the Potomac

In Stores June 2026

One of Lithub‘s Most Anticipated Books of 2026

Named a Best Book of Summer by the L.A. Times & Kirkus

“A comic masterpiece. The current administration is finally getting the book it deserves.” —Kirkus (Starred Review)

From the award-winning, bestselling author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk comes a biting satire of American politics and a searingly intelligent novel about the cruel absurdities of contemporary life, centering on a world champion professional wrestler with presidential ambitions.

“Fountain turns this scathing satire to the most relevant story of our time: the twists and turns of American democracy as it hurtles toward authoritarianism.”

—LitHub

“'Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk' is a masterpiece of satire, and somehow, he’s managed to do it again…. Fountain pulls it off with his gleefully absurd sense of humor.”

—The L.A. Times

“[A] brilliant satire…. More than a laugh riot, this offers an unflinching view at the bottomless depths opened by a president ‘whose ego has wormholes Freud never dreamt of.’”

—Publishers Weekly

“A withering satire…timely and terrifying, Fountain’s version of the current and potentially future state of American politics and culture is simultaneously wild and absurd yet eerily plausible.”

—Booklist (Starred Review)

Ben Fountain

Ben Fountain’s work has received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for Fiction, the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, the PEN-Cerulli Award for Excellence in Sports Writing, and a Whiting Writers Award, and has been a finalist for the National Book Award and runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Most recently, he has been awarded the Joyce Carol Oates Prize and the Thomas Wolfe Prize, and, along with French author Marc Levy, L’Hermione Award given by the French American School of New York. Fountain lives in North Carolina. | Read Full Bio

Ben Fountain

Award-winning and bestselling author of Devil Makes Three and Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

Home

Rasputin Swims the Potomac

In Stores June 2026

One of Lithub‘s Most Anticipated Books of 2026

Named a Best Book of Summer by the L.A. Times & Kirkus

“Fountain turns this scathing satire to the most relevant story of our time: the twists and turns of American democracy as it hurtles toward authoritarianism.”

—LitHub

“'Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk' is a masterpiece of satire, and somehow, he’s managed to do it again…. Fountain pulls it off with his gleefully absurd sense of humor.”

—The L.A. Times

“[A] brilliant satire…. More than a laugh riot, this offers an unflinching view at the bottomless depths opened by a president ‘whose ego has wormholes Freud never dreamt of.’”

—Publishers Weekly

“A withering satire…timely and terrifying, Fountain’s version of the current and potentially future state of American politics and culture is simultaneously wild and absurd yet eerily plausible.”

—Booklist (Starred Review)

Ben Fountain

Devil Makes Three

by Ben Fountain

Beautiful Country Burn Again

by Ben Fountain

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

by Ben Fountain

Brief Encounters with
Che Guevara

by Ben Fountain

Rasputin Swims the Potomac

by Ben Fountain

Published by Flatiron Books | June 9, 2026 | ISBN 9781250776549

Ben Fountain

Award-winning and bestselling author of Devil Makes Three and Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

Home

Rasputin Swims the Potomac

In Stores June 2026

One of Lithub‘s Most Anticipated Books of 2026

Named a Best Book of Summer by the L.A. Times & Kirkus

“Fountain turns this scathing satire to the most relevant story of our time: the twists and turns of American democracy as it hurtles toward authoritarianism.”

—LitHub

“'Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk' is a masterpiece of satire, and somehow, he’s managed to do it again…. Fountain pulls it off with his gleefully absurd sense of humor.”

—The L.A. Times

“[A] brilliant satire…. More than a laugh riot, this offers an unflinching view at the bottomless depths opened by a president ‘whose ego has wormholes Freud never dreamt of.’”

—Publishers Weekly

“A withering satire…timely and terrifying, Fountain’s version of the current and potentially future state of American politics and culture is simultaneously wild and absurd yet eerily plausible.”

—Booklist (Starred Review)

Ben Fountain

Devil Makes Three

by Ben Fountain

Beautiful Country Burn Again

by Ben Fountain

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

by Ben Fountain

Brief Encounters with Che Guevara

by Ben Fountain

Rasputin Swims the Potomac

by Ben Fountain

Published by Flatiron Books | June 9, 2026 | ISBN 9781250776549

Brief Encounters with
Che Guevara