December 2025

In his new novel The Emergency (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2025), George Packer turns from his prizewinning nonfiction to fiction, creating a gripping story of collapse, rebellion, and the search for renewal. An empire has fallen not through conquest but through exhaustion and loss of belief in itself. In the turmoil that follows, new social factions emerge, families fracture, and individuals are forced to ask what bonds, across generations, classes, and communities, can still hold in a time of upheaval. His new book brings us into the heart of questions that resonate far beyond its imagined world: What do we owe one another when societies fall apart? At the Thomas Mann House, Packer will discuss his novel and its broader implications with 2025 Thomas Mann Fellow Sandra Kegel, literary critic, journalist, and author. Their conversation will not only illuminate the literary world of The Emergency, but will also engage pressing contemporary concerns: the decline of trust in democratic institutions, the fragility of public discourse, and the possibilities for solidarity across the divides of class, generation, and geography. In line with the Thomas Mann House 2025 annual theme, “Across Boundaries,” the conversation will explore how divisions within our societies might be bridged and how interdisciplinary and creative approaches can foster more accessible democratic dialogue.