Madness Is Better Than Defeat

Description

"A wild, astonishing novel (by arguably England's most accomplished young writer) about Manhattan and Hollywood in the 1930s, Mayan gods, and a CIA operation gone terribly wrong--and the Booker short-listed Ned Beauman's magnum opus thus far. In 1938, two rival expeditions descend on an ancient temple recently discovered in the jungles of Honduras, one intending to shoot a screwball comedy on location there, the other to disassemble the temple and ship it back to New York. A seemingly endless stalemate ensues, and twenty years later a rogue CIA agent sets out to exploit it for his own ends, unaware that the temple is a locus of conspiracies grander than anyone could ever have guessed. Shot through with insanity, conspiracy, ingenuity, and adventure, showcasing Beauman's anarchic humor, spectacular imagination, and riveting prose, Madness Is Better Than Defeat teases, absorbs, entertains, and dazzles in equal measure"--

Description

In 1938, two rival expeditions set off for a lost Mayan temple in the jungles of Honduras. One intends to shoot a comedy on location while the other plans to disassemble the temple and ship it back to New York. A stalemate ensues. Twenty years later a rogue CIA agent sets out to exploit it as a geopolitical pawn - unaware that the temple is the locus of grander conspiracies. --adapted from back cover.

Subjects

Other Editions

• Madness Is Better Than DefeatPaperbackSceptre2017-01-01
• Madness is Better than DefeatHardcoverSceptre2017-06-25
• Madness Is Better Than DefeatHodder & Stoughton2018-01-01
• Madness is better than defeat2018-01-01
• Madness Is Better Than DefeatPaperbackVintage2019-01-15