America by 2016: Still one nation undivided? Like George Orweli’s 1984, this book does not predict; it warns. Either we integrate all of the people into one nation or we shall Balkanize like Eastern Europe . – Richard D. Lamm, former Governor, State of Colorado, Ctr. for Public Policy, University of Denver.

When the former Soviet Union was first threatened with collapse, few could have envisaged the tremendous changes that in a few short years would dissolve the map of eastern Europe into a simmering stew of competing ethnic nationalities. William Merwin’s futurist fiction speculates on what might happen in the U.S. by the year 2016 AD if America’s dominant Anglo-American population proved unwilling or unable to successfully assimilate its African-American and Hispanic national minorities. If the three major ethnic groups in America became enmeshed in nationalist orientations, could America break apart like the former Soviet Union?