In Assembly, Samuel Ludke brings together the voices of the everyday and the extraordinary, setting them against the backdrop of American youth, tradition, and identity. With the energy of a pep rally and the seriousness of a sermon, Ludke explores what it means to gather, to belong, and to confront the masks we wear-whether it's the letterman's jacket, the cheerleader's smile, or the gorilla suit grinning from the sidelines.

Part memoir, part cultural critique, and part poetic manifesto, Assembly doesn't just tell stories-it stages them. It asks its readers to sit down on the bleachers of memory, to hear the chants of adolescence echo against the walls of adulthood, and to look closely at the rituals that shape us.