American Carnage is not a conventional Trump-era book. It is less about the daily mayhem in the White House than about the unprecedented capitulation of a political party. This book will endure for helping us understand not what is happening but why it happened….[an] indispensable work.” — Carlos Lozada, Washington Post
“A masterful must-read. Alberta has written a compelling, alarming and scoop-heavy history of the fall of the party of Lincoln. American Carnage is filled with scoop. It is an exercise in a pulling back the curtain, not breathlessness.” — The Guardian
“A fascinating look at a Republican Party that initially scoffed at the incursion of a philandering reality-TV star with zero political experience and now readily accommodates him. [Alberta] brings more than a decade of reporting and a real understanding of the conservative movement to American Carnage .” — New York Times Book Review
“Alberta offers something more ambitious than a tale of palace intrigue.... The abiding theme of the book is that almost every influential figure in the Party has come to accept or submit to the President. Although Alberta is clearly not an admirer of the President, he is not unsympathetic to the voters who have embraced him and their feelings of resentment toward what they see as an increasingly liberal culture.” — The New Yorker
“One of the deepest and most fascinating reads about the transformation of the Republican Party over the last 15 or so years.” — Politico
“Mandatory reading for anyone who genuinely desires to know how we got to this point. It’s not a shooting civil war within the GOP or within the country at large. It’s not even 1968 or remotely close to the divisions that cleaved the nation during the Vietnam War and Watergate. But it is a serious divide.” — Washington Post
“Alberta argues that Trump won the presidency by channeling anxious Americans’ indignation and darker impulses. Trump’s challenge now, Alberta writes, is to turn a “freakish if not fluky” victory into a transformational redefinition of the GOP.” — Axios
“Now comes Tim Alberta, one of the best political reporters we have, especially on the internecine bloodletting on the political right, with a new book that details not only how the president stomped to the Republican nomination, but also the sordid calculations that allowed the GOP to make its peace with him.” — Esquire
“American Carnage isn’t an all-about-Trump book. It’s a book that reaches into the depths of the Republican Party and their relationship with the president.” — USA Today
“In this new book, American Carnage , by Tim Alberta, we are reminded about how so many who staked their reputation on principle caved to political convenience in this administration.” — CNN
“An eyes-wide-open analysis of right-wing populism.” — New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice
“A deeply reported account of internal Republican deliberations over the past decade. Alberta is admirably merciless as he shows his subjects abandoning their putative principles and falling in line behind Trump. (And the reporting is truly impressive — the scenes he reconstructs are both far more numerous and far more interesting than those in almost any “behind-the-scenes” reported political book I can recall.)” — New York
“An excellent book where Alberta uses the depth of his reporting to really bring the receipts and show the extent to which, until [Trump] beat Hillary Clinton, many of the people who are now his most loyal allies were deeply skeptical of his fitness for office.” — Vox
“Drawing on extensive interviews with politicians and pundits, Alberta’s engrossing narrative is full of sharp intrigues and vivid personalities....Incorporating trenchant analysis and a wealth of detail in stylish prose, Alberta highlights the broad currents beneath the chaos of recent politics.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Alberta brings the receipts, and if nothing else, it’s a helluva portrait of how principles are traded for power.” — The Ezra Klein Show, Vox
“In American Carnage , his fascinating and exhaustive account of the path of the Republican Party in the past decade, Tim Alberta of Politico explains how the party’s leadership got so out of touch with its voters at the end of George W. Bush’s administration and in the early years of Barack Obama’s.” — Wall Street Journal
One of the deepest and most fascinating reads about the transformation of the Republican Party over the last 15 or so years.
American Carnage isn’t an all-about-Trump book. It’s a book that reaches into the depths of the Republican Party and their relationship with the president.
Now comes Tim Alberta, one of the best political reporters we have, especially on the internecine bloodletting on the political right, with a new book that details not only how the president stomped to the Republican nomination, but also the sordid calculations that allowed the GOP to make its peace with him.
Alberta brings the receipts, and if nothing else, it’s a helluva portrait of how principles are traded for power.
An excellent book where Alberta uses the depth of his reporting to really bring the receipts and show the extent to which, until [Trump] beat Hillary Clinton, many of the people who are now his most loyal allies were deeply skeptical of his fitness for office.
Mandatory reading for anyone who genuinely desires to know how we got to this point. It’s not a shooting civil war within the GOP or within the country at large. It’s not even 1968 or remotely close to the divisions that cleaved the nation during the Vietnam War and Watergate. But it is a serious divide.
American Carnage isn’t an all-about-Trump book. It’s a book that reaches into the depths of the Republican Party and their relationship with the president.
A deeply reported account of internal Republican deliberations over the past decade. Alberta is admirably merciless as he shows his subjects abandoning their putative principles and falling in line behind Trump. (And the reporting is truly impressive — the scenes he reconstructs are both far more numerous and far more interesting than those in almost any “behind-the-scenes” reported political book I can recall.)
Mandatory reading for anyone who genuinely desires to know how we got to this point. It’s not a shooting civil war within the GOP or within the country at large. It’s not even 1968 or remotely close to the divisions that cleaved the nation during the Vietnam War and Watergate. But it is a serious divide.
A masterful must-read. Alberta has written a compelling, alarming and scoop-heavy history of the fall of the party of Lincoln. American Carnage is filled with scoop. It is an exercise in a pulling back the curtain, not breathlessness.
Alberta offers something more ambitious than a tale of palace intrigue.... The abiding theme of the book is that almost every influential figure in the Party has come to accept or submit to the President. Although Alberta is clearly not an admirer of the President, he is not unsympathetic to the voters who have embraced him and their feelings of resentment toward what they see as an increasingly liberal culture.
A fascinating look at a Republican Party that initially scoffed at the incursion of a philandering reality-TV star with zero political experience and now readily accommodates him. [Alberta] brings more than a decade of reporting and a real understanding of the conservative movement to American Carnage .
New York Times Book Review
…American Carnage isn't just another drop in the deluge of Trump books; in fact, it isn't really a Trump book at all. Instead it's a fascinating look at a Republican Party that initially scoffed at the incursion of a philandering reality-TV star with zero political experience and now readily accommodates him. Alberta…brings more than a decade of reporting and a real understanding of the conservative movement to American Carnage.
The New York Times - Jennifer Szalai
★ 07/22/2019
Republican congressional factions battle each other and Donald Trump for the party's soul in this sweeping study of modern American politics. Politico magazine correspondent Alberta surveys a decade of GOP upheaval; he begins with the rise of the ultraconservative Tea Party and its feud with establishment Republicans during Barack Obama's presidency, moves on to party leaders' failed efforts to quash Trump's 2016 campaign, and recounts their struggle to corral votes in a Republican Congress after Trump's victory and to deal with the president's volatile style and erratic leadership. Drawing on extensive interviews with politicians and pundits, Alberta's engrossing narrative is full of sharp intrigues and vivid personalities and focuses on attempts by House Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan to craft legislative compromises against furious resistance—and speakership challenges—from the party's uncompromising right wing. Alongside the horse-trading, Alberta explores two tectonic shifts in the American electorate: the Republican base's turn away from small-government, fiscally austere, free market, free trade Tea Party doctrine to a Trumpian populism of anti-immigrant xenophobia, protectionism, and free-spending industrial policy, as well as an overall demographic shift toward a less white, better educated, more urban population. Incorporating trenchant analysis and a wealth of detail in stylish prose, Alberta highlights the broad currents beneath the chaos of recent politics. (July )
A fascinating look at a Republican Party that initially scoffed at the incursion of a philandering reality-TV star with zero political experience and now readily accommodates him. [Alberta] brings more than a decade of reporting and a real understanding of the conservative movement to American Carnage .
New York Times Book Review
Alberta argues that Trump won the presidency by channeling anxious Americans’ indignation and darker impulses. Trump’s challenge now, Alberta writes, is to turn a “freakish if not fluky” victory into a transformational redefinition of the GOP.
Mandatory reading for anyone who genuinely desires to know how we got to this point. It’s not a shooting civil war within the GOP or within the country at large. It’s not even 1968 or remotely close to the divisions that cleaved the nation during the Vietnam War and Watergate. But it is a serious divide.
Alberta offers something more ambitious than a tale of palace intrigue.... The abiding theme of the book is that almost every influential figure in the Party has come to accept or submit to the President. Although Alberta is clearly not an admirer of the President, he is not unsympathetic to the voters who have embraced him and their feelings of resentment toward what they see as an increasingly liberal culture.
A masterful must-read. Alberta has written a compelling, alarming and scoop-heavy history of the fall of the party of Lincoln. American Carnage is filled with scoop. It is an exercise in a pulling back the curtain, not breathlessness.
In this new book, American Carnage , by Tim Alberta, we are reminded about how so many who staked their reputation on principle caved to political convenience in this administration.
In American Carnage , his fascinating and exhaustive account of the path of the Republican Party in the past decade, Tim Alberta of Politico explains how the party’s leadership got so out of touch with its voters at the end of George W. Bush’s administration and in the early years of Barack Obama’s.
A deeply reported account of internal Republican deliberations over the past decade. Alberta is admirably merciless as he shows his subjects abandoning their putative principles and falling in line behind Trump. (And the reporting is truly impressive — the scenes he reconstructs are both far more numerous and far more interesting than those in almost any “behind-the-scenes” reported political book I can recall.)
In American Carnage , his fascinating and exhaustive account of the path of the Republican Party in the past decade, Tim Alberta of Politico explains how the party’s leadership got so out of touch with its voters at the end of George W. Bush’s administration and in the early years of Barack Obama’s.
Alberta offers something more ambitious than a tale of palace intrigue.... The abiding theme of the book is that almost every influential figure in the Party has come to accept or submit to the President. Although Alberta is clearly not an admirer of the President, he is not unsympathetic to the voters who have embraced him and their feelings of resentment toward what they see as an increasingly liberal culture.
