Don DeLillo on Xanax

Published in 1985, White Noise was a hyperbolic semi-satire of consumerism, tabloid and celebrity culture, suburban family life, American film’s love of car crashes, and the then-nascent idea of predictive data modeling. A more intellectual version of the Brady Bunch, the novel features Jack and Babette Gladney, their four kids from different marriages and one child from their own, but used them to reveal the inner workings of modern American society. Nearly 40 years later, the novel now feels both prescient and understated.