The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of one of the most iconic novels of our time-now in a dazzling graphic package Winner of the National Book Award, "White Noise" tells the story of Jack Gladney, his fourth wife, Babette, and four ultraA-modern offspring as they navigate the rocky passages of family life to the background babble of brand-name consumerism. When an industrial accident unleashes an "airborne toxic event," a lethal black chemical cloud floats over their lives. The menacing cloud is a more urgent and visible version of the "white noise" engulfing the Gladneys-radio transmissions, sirens, microwaves, ultrasonic appliances, and TV murmurings-pulsing with life, yet suggesting something ominous.