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Stavridis and Ackerman are the bestselling authors or 2034: A Novel of the Next World War. Their new
thriller 2054 opens twenty years after the catastrophic war between the United States and China that
brought down the old American political order. A new party has emerged in the US, one that’s held
power for over a decade. Efforts to cement its grip have resulted in mounting violent resistance. The
American president has control of the media, but he is beginning to lose control of the streets. Many
fear he’ll stop at nothing to remain in the White House. Suddenly, he collapses in the middle of an
address to the nation. After an initial flurry of misinformation, the administration reluctantly announces
his death. A cover-up ensues, conspiracy theories abound, and the country descends into a new type of
civil war. A handful of elite actors from the worlds of computer science, intelligence, and business have a
fairly good idea what happened. All signs point to a profound breakthrough in AI, of which the remote
assassination of an American president is hardly the most game-changing. The trail leads to an outpost
in the Amazon rainforest, the last known whereabouts of the tech visionary who predicted this
breakthrough. As some of the world’s great powers, old and new, state and nonstate alike, struggle to
outmaneuver one another in this new Great Game of scientific discovery, the outcome becomes
entangled with the fate of American democracy. Combining a deep understanding of AI, biotech, and
the possibility of a coming Singularity, along with their signature geopolitical sophistication, Elliot
Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis have once again written a visionary work. 2054 is a novel that
reads like a thriller even as it demands that we consider the trajectory of our society and its potentially
calamitous destination.

Advance praise for 2054 is stellar:

“A top-shelf thriller about near-future geopolitical turmoil . . .Ackerman and Stavridis paint a sweeping and resonant portrait of a world faced with a powerful technological advancement it doesn’t fully understand. The results are genuinely chilling.” — ★Publishers Weekly

“Gripping and imaginative . . . this is an enjoyable techno-thriller that explores the chaotic, self-
destructive potential of human ingenuity.”  —Booklist

About Elliot Ackerman
Elliot Ackerman is the author of the novels Halcyon, Red Dress in Black and White, Waiting for
Eden, Dark at the Crossing, and Green on Blue, and the memoirs The Fifth Act and Places and Names. His books have been nominated for the National Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He is both a former White House Fellow and Marine, and served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan,where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. He is currently acontributing writer at The Atlantic.

About Admiral James Stavridis, USN
Admiral James Stavridis is Vice Chair, Global Affairs of The Carlyle Group and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation, following five years as the 12th Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.  A retired 4-star officer in the U.S. Navy, he led the NATO Alliance in global operations from 2009 to 2013 as Supreme Allied Commander with responsibility for Afghanistan, Libya, the Balkans, Syria, counter piracy, and cyber security.  He also served as Commander
of U.S. Southern Command, with responsibility for all military operations in Latin America from 2006-2009. He earned more than 50 medals, including 28 from foreign nations in his 37-year military career. Earlier in his military career he commanded the top ship in the Atlantic Fleet, winning the Battenberg Cup, as well as a squadron of destroyers and a carrier strike group – all in combat.  Admiral Stavridis earned a PhD in international relations and has published twelve books and hundreds of articles in leading journals around the world, including the recent novel 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, which was a New York Times bestseller and To Risk It All: Nine Conflicts and The Crucible of Decision. His 2012 TED talk on global security has close to one million views. Admiral Stavridis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and Chief International Security Analyst for NBC News.

About David Ignatius: David Ignatius writes a twice-a-week foreign affairs column for The Washington Post. Ignatius has written 11 spy novels: “The Paladin” (2020), “The Quantum Spy,” (2017), “The Director,” (2014), “Bloodmoney” (2011), “The Increment” (2009), “Body of Lies” (2007), “The Sun King” (1999), “A Firing Offense” (1997), “The Bank of Fear” (1994), “SIRO” (1991), and “Agents of Innocence” (1987). “Body of Lies” was made into a 2008 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.

Ignatius joined The Post in 1986 as editor of its Sunday Outlook section. In 1990 he became foreign editor, and in 1993, assistant managing editor for business news. He began writing his column in 1998 and continued even during a three-year stint as executive editor of the International Herald Tribune in Paris. Earlier in his career, Ignatius was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covering at various times the steel industry, the Departments of State and Justice, the CIA, the Senate and the Middle East.

Books will be available for sale by East City Bookshop. A book signing will follow the conversation.