"Save America From Itself": Steve Erickson's Speculative History of the Future in Shadowbahn

Abstract: Steve Erickson's recent novel Shadowbahn displays a complex navigation of time that models a new formal mode for envisioning a long-durational and recursive understanding of history. The primary conceit of Erickson's novel is simple: the Twin Towers, famous for their destruction on September 11, 2001, have recently reappeared, fully formed, in the Badlands of the Dakotas. This essay argues that the reappearance of this imperial emblem on Native American land in the heart of America questions the perseverance of colonial thought and persuasively integrates 9/11 into a long genealogy of colonial violence.