”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
A New Yorker Most Anticipated Book of the YearA Financial Times Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book of the YearA Kirkus Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book of Spring 2026 A Literary Hub Most Anticipated Book of the Year
A pyrotechnic examination of Elon Musk as a symptom and avatar of our postliberal age
Everyones got an Elon take. Hes a messiah. A menace; a genius; a clown. The verdicts differ, but they share one theme: they treat him as an individual.
Muskism argues otherwise. Elon Musk isnt a glitch in the systemhe is the system. His worldview promises sovereignty through technology: plug in, power up, and become self-reliant. But the more you connect, the more he owns you.
If Fordism defined the capitalism of the twentieth century, Muskism may define the twenty-first. Fordism helped build the welfare state. Musk undoes it. He thrives on dependence while preaching freedom. His cars run on subsidies; his satellites run the battlefield; his social networks train the AI that trains us.
Muskism sells itself as the future but entrenches age-old hierarchies. It offers autonomy for some and exclusion for others. Its pro-natalist but anti-immigrant, futurist but reactionary. It speaks of humanity but warns against empathy.
Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff cut through the hype and the hate to reveal what Musk really represents: a new political economy, where to be free means to serve a Technoking. Muskism isnt about the man. Its about the machine that made himand the world hes making next. To read Muskism is to understand the machinery that made the man, and the world hes making next, based on his philosophy of power in the spheres of:
- Silicon Valley: A sharp analysis of Elon Musk as more than a tech CEO, introducing Muskism as a new Silicon Valley paradigm shaping artificial intelligence, startups, and 21st-century capitalism.
- Big Tech, AI & the Future of Capitalism: Examines Tesla, SpaceX, and digital platforms through concepts like techno-sovereignty, automation, and state symbiosis, revealing how Big Tech is restructuring markets, innovation, and economic power.
- Geopolitics, Power & the Tech Billionaire Era: Explores how Musks companies influence global politics, infrastructure, and governancefrom satellite networks to energy systemsshowing how private tech power is reshaping international relations.
