A terrifying vision of the future from one of our most renowned writers - J.G. Ballard, author of 'Empire of the Sun' and 'Crash'. Following the energy crisis of the late twentieth-century America has been abandoned. Now, a century later, a small group of European explorers returns to the deserted continent. But America is unrecognisable - the Bering Strait has been dammed and the whole continent has become a desert, populated by isolated natives and the bizarre remnants of a disintegrated culture. The expedition sets off from Manhattan on a cross-continent journey, through Holiday Inns and abandoned theme parks, to uncover a shocking new power in the heart of Las Vegas.