At the NCS, we like to single out new books to add to our “suggested reading” list for our library and magazine. We will periodically select books that we think you’ll like. 2084 American Apocalypse by James Keena is one of them. It may not exactly be what you are used to in terms of contemporary Mafia, but by all means is it gangster. In lieu of our current political culture, this book is what we all need. It’s absolutely fascinating and incredibly well written. You’ll find that we are headed straight in the direction of this book if we don’t change. Keena has painted us a very vivid picture of what our world is going to look like. We haven’t even begun to see gangster. James Keena shows us who the REAL gangsters and what motivates them. Riveting.

2084: American Apocalypse is a dystopian political thriller written by James Keena, an author, educator, and champion of freedom. He has published three books and numerous critically acclaimed articles.

Dark Sun and Dark Moon are two parents living a spartan farming existence in remote Kansas during a civil war in the year 2084. Their pseudonyms are artefacts from years of hiding from a totalitarian government that is now losing territory to several factions fighting in the civil war. The couple and their kids are completely isolated from the rest of civilization.

Their two children, Cammy and Curious, are brutally kidnapped by unknown paramilitary assailants for unknown reasons. Dark Sun and Dark Moon embark on a perilous and desperate journey across war-torn America to find them, following just a handful of haunting clues, some of which are contained in a journal they discover that was left behind by Dark Sun’s long-missing father.

They navigate through a maze of warring factions. The Elites are the heavy-handed totalitarians who are yielding territory as they consolidate their dwindling empire east of the Appalachians. The Jackals are a lawless faction of narco-anarchists who have poured across the southern border into the Southwestern states. The Caliphate is a faction of radical Islamic jihadists who have established a foothold in the upper Midwest. The Rebels are a faction of southerners who bitterly oppose the totalitarianism of the Elites. The Warriors of Pathless Land are a mysterious band of marauders, led by an enigmatic and daring visionary named “J”, who have invaded America from their island prison that used to be Cuba, where they were outcast by the Elites decades ago.

Most of the warring factions are led by puppets whose strings are being pulled by a shadowy international group called the Syndicate. The Syndicate is a cabal of fabulously wealthy financiers and criminals who have influenced governments and the course of history for many centuries. Their goal is to live even better than kings, and to protect their wealth by accumulating even more power than the greatest of emperors. Their current mission is to destroy America and to eliminate the Warriors of Pathless Land, whom they see as the biggest threat to their world hegemony. Most of the people in the world are pawns of their political leaders, and most of the political leaders in the world are pawns of the Syndicate.

Against these powerful forces, Dark Sun and Dark Moon ally with a roving band of diverse nomads who befriend them. The nomads have an uncanny ability to navigate the turbulent American landscape because they are traders of contraband who serve as a fragile glue for the fractured society.

The nomads are led by a black sage who goes by the pseudonym Osiris. Osiris was formally a radical anarchist from New York who learned that helping people rather than killing them is the only path to personal and social peace. His adopted daughter is a dauntless Arabic woman named Fatima who was abused by almost every faction in America during her brutal upbringing. The rest of the diverse nomads are people who were either orphaned, outcast, or abused during the civil war. Osiris and Fatima both seek to find a world where their nomadic tribe can safely settle down and trade peacefully with others.

Dark Sun and Dark Moon learn that the Elites were the culprits who kidnapped Cammy and Curious. They also gradually learn that their extended family members are far more deeply involved with the Elites and the machinations of the Syndicate than they ever could have imagined.

Their epic journey becomes a twisting, gut-wrenching intrigue of tragedy and treachery.

Their attempt to rescue their kidnapped children rises to a climax that draws their friends and foes into a heart-stopping confrontation. They are forced to make an apocalyptic decision that will determine the fate of an apocalyptic world. They must choose whether to betray “J”, who they’ve learned is Dark Sun’s long-missing father, to the Elites, or watch their children die.

During their cross-country quest, Dark Sun and Dark Moon must rise to challenges that seem impossible to them. They become transformed by the rigors of their journey and by the spiritual and emotional tests they endure. They begin the story as humble farmers eking out a living for their isolated family, and end it as heroic figures willing to join with the Warriors of Pathless Land to help eradicate the Elites and the Syndicate from the face of the earth.

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