We the Animals American Classics Edition

One of The New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

"A tremendously gifted writer whose highly personal voice should excite us in much the same way that Raymond Carver's or Jeffrey Eugenides's voice did when we first heard it."―The Washington Post

In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, HarperCollins is proud to present this library of American classics drawn from our storied catalog. We the Animals, the award-winning, groundbreaking novel from National Book Award-winning Justin Torres, plunges us into the chaotic heart of one family, the intense bonds of three brothers, and the mythic effects of this fierce love on the people we must become.

Three brothers tear their way through childhood― smashing tomatoes all over each other, building kites from trash, hiding out when their parents do battle, tiptoeing around the house as their mother sleeps off her graveyard shift. Paps and Ma are from Brooklyn―he's Puerto Rican, she's white―and their love is a serious, dangerous thing that makes and unmakes a family many times. Life in this family is fierce and absorbing, full of chaos and heartbreak and the euphoria of belonging completely to one another.

From the intense familial unity felt by a child to the profound alienation he endures as he begins to see the world, this beautiful novel reinvents the coming-of-age story in a way that is sly and punch-in-the-stomach powerful.

• A BEAUTIFUL PACKAGE WITH FLAPS: Featuring French flaps and a unique vivid cover design, each book in the collection is published as a deluxe trade paperback that is a part of a stunning series look.
• HARPER COLLINS AMERICAN CLASSICS: This series includes timeless novels, poetry, children's books, and groundbreaking nonfiction that has shaped American thought, literature, and identity across generations.
• AMERICA'S PUBLISHER: Since its founding in 1817, no American publisher has been so entwined in the history of American letters. Our books enrich, challenge, and defined the American spirit.
• AMERICA 250: The HarperCollins American Classics arrive in time for America's 250th anniversary celebrations.

JUSTIN TORRES is the author of Blackouts, which won the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction, was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Lambda Literary award, and the Southern California Book Award. A 2024 Guggenheim Fellow, he's also received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, and the New York Public Library's Cullman Center. His first novel, We the Animals was a national bestseller and adapted into a feature film. He lives Los Angeles, and is an associate professor of English at UCLA.