"A whirlwind tour through the plans and inspirations of the world's most self-important man." -Malcolm Harris, author of Palo Alto

"This book is brilliant in all the ways Elon Musk is not: unflinchingly honest, actually humorous, and deeply humane. Unlike their subject, these authors punch up, not down, and they do so with erudition and precision. A wholly original and insightful analysis that deserves to be read by the billions of people impacted by Musk's pathological quest for power and wealth." -Astra Taylor, author of The Age of Insecurity

"Muskism cuts straight to the core of the man and the moment, explaining how a mercurial, conspiracy-prone, vicious bastard can inspire loyalty and billions in other peoples' money, and the nightmare world he wants to build with those billions." -Cory Doctorow, author of Enshittification and editor of Pluralistic

"The bad news is that Elon Musk is the most powerful and influential man alive-the world-soul astride a Cybertruck. The good news is that Ben Tarnoff and Quinn Slobodian have written this sharp, stimulating guide not just to the man and his ideology but to the paradigm and 'operating system' he represents. Forget the hagiographies and conspiracy theories, this is the only book you need to understand Musk and the world he's seeking to usher in." -Max Read, editor of Read Max

"Through the life and work of Elon Musk, this impeccably researched and splendidly written book introduces us to something more than the man: Muskism, the idea of using government to pay for one's entrepreneurship harnessed to ensuring the rise and rule of the new engineering technocracy. It is a world full of promise and fear. Technical prowess no longer seems to work for equality, but for its opposite. Startups are on their way to becoming satraps." -Branko Milanovic, author of The Great Global Transformation

"A searching look into Elon Musk's quest to rule the universe. . . . Muskism is a doctrine of wealth for the few and political and economic domination: SpaceX in space, X and Grok online, Starlink on every phone... Dystopian isn't a strong enough word for the technocratic future the authors prophesy in this bleak but urgent book." -Kirkus

"Slobodian is an academic historian and public intellectual. I look to him for accessible but probing takes on Cold War neoliberals, the failings of globalism, and-you guessed it, a certain world-cratering slimeball in Silicon Valley. Ben Tarnoff is a leading tech writer, known for his clarion call to deprivatize the internet. So these two feel like the perfect guides to help a layman understand the Musk phenomenon." -Literary Hub, "Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2026"

"Impressive and unrelenting, [MUSKISM] grapples with a destructive ideology that seems poised to consume everything." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Slobodian and Tarnoff's 'guide for the perplexed' capably and cleverly attempts to recognize the world that produced Elon Musk as well as how he became an icon and later, a political firebrand. Pithy and informative from beginning to end." -Booklist

"In their new book Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, historian Quinn Slobodian and tech writer Ben Tarnoff dig into the mindset of Silicon Valley's most gauche tycoon and touch on science fiction more tangentially, but their firmer grasp of just what flavor of capitalism Musk and his cohort represent sheds a brighter light on the topic." -Slate

"...[Muskism is] packed with insights about why we find ourselves in such a perilous situation in which a handful of unelected individuals exert unprecedented domestic and global power." -Financial Times