Excerpt from The Nix by Nathan Hill, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

The headline changes to SIXTIES RADICAL ATTACKS GOV. PACKER!

And as if the story isn't delicious enough already, two things happen near the end of the workday to vault it into the stratosphere, water-cooler-wise. First, it's reported that Governor Packer is having emergency surgery on his eyeball. And second, a mug shot is unearthed that shows the woman was arrested in 1968—though never officially charged or convicted—for prostitution.

This is just too much. How can one headline possibly gather all these amazing details? RADICAL HIPPIE PROSTITUTE TEACHER BLINDS GOV. PACKER IN VICIOUS ATTACK!

The news plays over and over the part of the video where the governor is struck. They enlarge it so it's all pixelated and grainy in a valiant effort to show everyone the exact moment that a sharp piece of gravel splashes into his right cornea. Pundits argue about the meaning of the attack and whether it represents a threat to democracy. Some call the woman a terrorist, others say it shows how far our political discourse has fallen, others say the governor pretty much asked for it by being such a reckless crusader for guns. Comparisons are made with the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers. The NRA releases a statement saying the attack never would have happened had Governor Packer been carrying his revolver.

The people working at their desks behind the TV anchor, meanwhile, do not appear at this moment to be working any harder or less hard than they were earlier in the day.

It takes about forty-five minutes for a clever copywriter to come up with the phrase "Packer Attacker," which is promptly adopted by all the networks and incorporated into the special logos they make for the coverage.

The woman herself is being kept in a downtown jail awaiting arraign-ment and is unavailable for comment. Without her explanation, the nar-rative of the day forms when opinion and assumption combine with a few facts to create an ur-story that hardens in people's minds: The woman is a former hippie and current liberal radical who hates the governor so much that she waited in a premeditated way to viciously attack him.

Except there's a glaring logical hole in this theory, which is that the governor's jaunt through the park was an impromptu move that not even his security detail knew about. Thus the woman couldn't have known he was coming and so couldn't have been waiting in ambush. However, this inconsistency is lost in the more sensational news items and is never fully investigated.

Excerpted from The Nixby Nathan Hill. Copyright © 2016 by Nathan Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.