UnWholly

Shusterman includes a short section of Jeopardy-style answers and questions to inform readers new to the series (or remind readers familiar with the series) of terminology and concepts in the world of the Unwind Dystology. In this fictional 21st century, technology allows people to transplant almost their entire bodies, a process called unwinding, and a fully unwound person is said to have entered a divided state.

In the early 2010s, there was a civil war (the Heartland War) between pro-choice and pro-life camps that resulted in the Unwind Accord, which legalized retroactive abortion of troubled teens. These teens are sent to harvest camps where they are unwound. Unwinding is not only a punishment for rule-breaking teens, but also something that can be designated from birth: Babies selected for unwinding in this way are called tithes.

Shusterman’s alternate reality also includes the legal practice of storking, which means leaving unwanted babies on strangers’ doorsteps, and wards, or parentless children raised in state homes. Additionally, there are Juvey-cops, or Juvies, a division of law enforcement officers tasked with policing Unwinds.

The Unwinds who become runways are called AWOL. Some are rescued by the Anti-Divisional Resistance, or ADR, and some end up in the Graveyard—a massive airplane salvage yard in Arizona.