XXI century. A certain Joanis decides to look at the country of his ancestors and goes to America. There he is first almost executed for his connections with the communists, then he is almost killed by a policeman, then he is sent to prison, where everyone wants to go, because there is three meals a day... It all ends with nuclear war. A terrible, strong, smart book - the best example of satirical fiction since Voltaire. Sheckley does not question the universal absurdity, he tries to think through and think through, and not overcome - this creates a strong feeling of doom. Joanis himself is an ordinary character in an educational novel, a kind of Candide from the time of the Apocalypse. The novel does not break up into episodes, but the reason for this is not the hero or the plot, but the universal author’s doubt. There was simply Joanis - and he is no more. There was a civilization - and...