CHINA LAKE

“Nearly indescribable and utterly engrossing, this book is an urgent and terrifying cultural reflection, a startling look in the mirror.” –Kirkus (starred)

Barret Baumgart's literary debut presents a haunting and deeply personal portrait of civilization poised at the precipice, a picture of humanity caught between its deepest past and darkest future. In the fall of 2013, during the height of California's historic drought, Baumgart toured the remote military base, NAWS China Lake, near Death Valley, California. His mother, the survivor of a recent stroke, decided to come along for the ride. She hoped the alleged healing power of the base's ancient Native American hot springs might cure her crippling headaches. Baumgart sought to debunk claims that the military was spraying the atmosphere with toxic chemicals to control the weather. What follows is a discovery that threatens to sever not only the bonds between mother and son but between planet Earth and life itself.

Stalking the fringes of internet conspiracy, speculative science, and contemporary archaeology, Baumgart weaves memoir, military history, and investigative journalism in a dizzying journey that carries him from the cornfields of Iowa to drought-riddled California, from the Vietnam jungle to the caves of prehistoric Europe and eventually the walls of the US Capitol, the sparkling white hallways of the Pentagon, and straight into the heart of a worldwide climate emergency.

BARRET BAUMGART grew up in San Diego, California, studied philosophy at UC Berkeley, retired to Portland, Oregon, and eventually moved to Iowa City, Iowa where he received an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Iowa's Nonfiction Writing Program. Today he works at brewery in downtown Los Angeles and drums in the experimental black metal band Wreche. His work has appeared previously in Vice, The Gettysburg Review, Teros Magazine, The Seneca Review, The Literary Review, and Camera Obscura.