With a nod to the chemically-induced contentment of Huxley’s Brave New World, the title story “American Soma” explains how a friction-filled democratic system is lubricated by a collusion of partisan politicians and commercial interests. “Evolution”, written during the Dover Area School District ’s Intelligent Design Trials, describes the adaptations caused by mankind’s heavy reliance on synthetic hormones and toxic polymers. Twenty other fables and letters explore alternate histories, the colonial nature of late capitalism, pained yet comic souls, the obsessions of lucid maniacs, and an imagined advance towards the Apocalypse. Concerned and politically aware, Guz examines the lurking evils of contemporary society and the darker corners of human nature.