Health and Safety: A Breakdown
An essay collection or long-form non-fiction work focusing on club culture, nightlife, and issues of 'safety' and 'health' in urban life (based on cited sources).
Work Information
An essay collection or long-form non-fiction work focusing on club culture, nightlife, and issues of 'safety' and 'healt…
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD PRIZE • A NEW YORKER, TIME, AND PITCHFORK BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • From the New Yorker staff writer and acclaimed author of Future Sex comes a memoir about drugs, techno, and New York City "The first great book about what it was like to live through the Trump presidency"—Emily Gould, The Cut In the summer of 2016, a divisive presidential election was underway, and a new breed of right-wing rage was on the rise. Emily Witt, who would soon publish her first book on sex in the digital age, had recently quit antidepressants for a more expansive world of psychedelic experimentation. From her apartment in Brooklyn, she began to catch glimpses of the clandestine nightlife scene thrumming around her. In Health and Safety, Witt charts her immersion into New York City’s dance music underground, where she pushed the limits of consciousness in hollowed-out office spaces and warehouses to music that sounded like the future, and all during an era of American delirium and dissolution. Sparing no one—least of all Witt herself—Health and Safety is a lament for a broken relationship, for a changed nightlife scene, and for New York City just before the fall.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Vintage
- Published
- 2026-03-24
- Pages
- 272 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.41 x 2.08 x 20.19 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780593469897
- ISBN-10
- 0593469895
- Price
- 3324 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Biographies & Memoirs/Specific Groups/Women
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD PRIZE • A NEW YORKER, TIME, AND PITCHFORK BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • From the New Yorker staff writer and acclaimed author of Future Sex comes a memoir about drugs, techno, and New York City "The first great book about what it was like to live through the Trump presidency"—Emily Gould, The Cut In the summer of 2016, a divisive presidential election was underway, and a new breed of right-wing rage was on the rise. Emily Witt, who would soon publish her first book on sex in the digital age, had recently quit antidepressants for a more expansive world of psychedelic experimentation. From her apartment in Brooklyn, she began to catch glimpses of the clandestine nightlife scene thrumming around her. In Health and Safety, Witt charts her immersion into New York City’s dance music underground, where she pushed the limits of consciousness in hollowed-out office spaces and warehouses to music that sounded like the future, and all during an era of American delirium and dissolution. Sparing no one—least of all Witt herself— Health and Safety is a lament for a broken relationship, for a changed nightlife scene, and for New York City just before the fall.
Emily Witt is a staff writer at The New Yorker . She has covered breaking news and politics from around the country, and has written about culture, sexuality, drugs, and night life. She is the author of the books Future Sex and Nollywood . Her journalism, essays, and criticism have appeared in n+1 , the Times , GQ , Harper’s, and the London Review of Books.
Reviews
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Try to suspend some of your judgements if you're going to read this
Our culture war climate produced many Gen Z that don't like me because I'm Y, many women don't like me because I'm a white guy, and libertarians who hate me. How very ironic that so many reviews of this book are negative because the reviewer comes from a different splinter of the left than their's. I'm in my upper 50s. I remember when people's first reaction was to try to avoid cynicism about very opinionated writing, to give it some breathing room. I disagree with some of the ideas in this book, but almost all have at least some merit. There's no need to needle and discredit every author who is a very personal storyteller and outspoken. I missed most of the rave scene times, but I lived in Greenpoint 15 years ago. I've seen the EDM culture in Saigon, Vietnam, where I moved eight years ago, and "Safety" makes me want to vomit in my mouth a little if I compare the extreme shallowness of club life much of Asia. "Safety" is concerned with social justice. One thing I don't get (my one, choice, small needling) is how Witt doesn't call out those who choose coke as their regular nightlife drug of choice. In the more "aware" world of these underground clubs, they are pretty inauthentic. They cause more problems, via people's live ruined by cartels, than a Trump supporter ranting on Twitter about his/her grievances.
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Memoires of a dutiful daughter
Even though I am a not native English speaking, 62 year old woman I was truly fascinated of the story and the world and time it describes. I really like the authors style of writing. It's captivating and it was hard to put the book away. I hope to of Emily Witt, maybe even in German translation.
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SAD STUFF
When observing events outside what goes on beyond her, the author reveals extraordinary writing skills, distilling social trends to bare bones..Not to judge, but to express confusion, what attracts her to raves, drugs, rejection impulses, DJs or bartenders as talented, and particularly her “love” interest, while graphically portrayed, ultimately masks, until it can no longer mask, the futility of it all..This, in the final analysis, is rebellion run amok..She feels “love” for a lover first, foremost, and ultimately, a self-destructive abuser who, ironically, as highly skilled and articulate in self justification and delusion, might well mirror the author..Her ability to garner writing gigs seems her only means to stay afloat..The fact that The New Yorker hires her speaks volumes..Exploring unconventional and risky business against the banalities of living will always sell books..But like what we see on television and other media, we can be fascinated if not seduced by people or agencies who talk a good game, but who have no game. Caveat Emptor.
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Thoughtful and Well-Written Memoir
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would agree with many of the third party professional reviews to date that have referred to it as one of the finest post-Covid memoirs to date. Like her other books and articles, Emily Witt's writing style is elegant, poignant and enthralling. I'm not sure there's a readily available comparison, but I would say she's somewhere in the mix of Chuck Klosterman, Bianca Bosker, Jia Tolentino and maybe a little Cat Marnell. The substance of the book is also great -- a high-brow analysis of (arguably, although I would disagree) a low-brow subject, the Brooklyn rave scene, coupled with the author's experience with Covid pandemic, the tumultuous politics of that time and a captivating, but ultimately toxic, relationship. In short, I would highly recommend this book. If I have any criticism about it (and I really don't), I guess a little too much ink was dedicated to her failed relationship, as if the author felt compelled to justify herself to readers that are not as hard on her as she is on herself regarding it, and a perhaps implicit theme that the author is partially responsible of the gentrification of the Brooklyn scene she writes about, as I felt that partially detracted from the authenticity she clearly deserves.
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Well told story of downward spiral on drugs
This is a story of 2 people who thought they could find meaning in life via heavy drug use and raves. It didn't work out as they anticipated. Interested persons can read the book for details.