Greenberg, a Washington, D.C.-based science journalist, draws on decades of reporting on science policy, politics, and academe to craft this novel about politics and immorality in research. Greenberg's fictional institution, Kershaw University, ranks high in national standings but, in fact, is a dysfunctional institution. A tenured faculty, while constantly embroiled in bitter vendettas, is focused on protecting and enhancing its privileges. The students are mainly occupied with partying and sleeping late. Meanwhile, Kershaw's most renowned scientist is illicitly at work under a secret Army contract to develop an anti-sleep drug that can keep troops permanently awake on the battlefield.