Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success

by Michael D'Antonio Narrated by Eric Pollins

Overview

In the summer of 2015, as he vaulted to the lead among the many GOP candidates for president, Donald Trump was the only one dogged by questions about his true intentions. This most famous American businessman had played the role of provocateur so often that pundits, reporters, and voters struggled to believe that he was a serious contender. Trump stirred so much controversy that his candidacy puzzled anyone who applied ordinary political logic to the race. But as Michael D'Antonio shows in Never Enough, Trump has rarely been ordinary in his pursuit of success and his trademark method is based on a logic that begins with his firm belief that he is a singular and superior human being.

As revealed in this landmark biography, Donald Trump is a man whose appetite for wealth, attention, power, and conquest is practically insatiable. Declaring that he is still the person he was as a rascally little boy, Trump confesses that he avoids reflecting on himself "because I might not like what I see" and he believes "most people aren't worthy of respect."

A product of the media age and the Me Generation that emerged in the 1970s, Trump was a Broadway showman before he became a developer. Mentored by the scoundrel attorney Roy Cohn, Trump was a regular on the New York club scene and won press attention as a dashing young mogul before he had built his first major project. He leveraged his father's enormous fortune and political connections to get his business off the ground, and soon developed a larger-than-life persona. In time, and through many setbacks, he made himself into a living symbol of extravagance and achievement.

Drawing upon extensive and exclusive interviews with Trump and many of his family members, including all his adult children, D'Antonio presents the full story of a truly American icon, from his beginnings as a businessman to his stormy romantic life and his pursuit of power in its many forms. For all those who wonder: Just who is Donald Trump?, Never Enough supplies the answer. He is a promoter, builder, performer and politician who pursues success with a drive that borders on obsession and yet, has given him, almost everything he ever wanted.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Never Enough is an admirably straight­forward, evenhanded but nonetheless damning account of Trump’s life.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A brisk and entertaining read, drawing on interviews and documents and distilling decades’ worth of news coverage to tell the story of Trump’s childhood, family, business deals and political forays.” —The Washington Post

“A carefully reported and fair-minded account. … [D’Antonio] has pulled together Trump's story, subjected it to some fact-checking and dissected a string of business deals that display his drive to win, his thirst for money, his willingness to push boundaries and his apparently endless quest for publicity.” —USA Today

"Delightful." —London Review of Books

"Balanced, well-sourced and perfectly timed." —The Financial Times

Kirkus Reviews

2015-10-10
A straightforward biography of the billionaire Republican presidential hopeful. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist D'Antonio (Mortal Sins: Sex, Crime, and the Era of Catholic Scandal, 2013) scrutinizes the life of Donald Trump in a portrait that's consistently even-keeled and neither applauds nor particularly vilifies the billionaire businessman. Drawing heavily on a sizable archive of previously published media (as well as 10 hours with the man himself), the author paints Trump in much the same light as his public persona allows: he is an egotistical, self-absorbed, successful business tycoon and undoubtedly the "most recognized businessperson of our time." The author writes of Trump's "relentless pursuit of profit," which began as he came of age in 1970s-era Manhattan after assuming control of his father Fred's real estate development firm. Time spent at a military academy also molded his temperament and workhorse discipline. Appeasing his indulgences for sex with scores of beautiful women and garnering a reputation for being a ruthless property owner, Trump as always demonstrated a narcissistic braggadocio and hubris, which permeates much of this biography. He's shrewd and he knows it, and he even takes full credit for the rejuvenation of midtown Manhattan in the late 1970s. Commentary from his ex-wives, son Donald Jr., and a slew of business associates all further confirm The Donald's lofty hierarchal status as a prolific author, reality TV star, and surprisingly popular political candidate. The past catches up with the present in the book's final chapter, which offers more refreshing personal perspectives. Even though Trump excommunicated D'Antonio early on for entertaining the opinions of detractors, the author still manages to produce careful, solid spadework in presenting Trump's life and entrepreneurial legacy through the achievements, failures, and self-promotional salesmanship that continue to captivate media outlets today. An evenhandedly written and aptly timed glimpse of the man behind the mogul.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169139457
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	09/22/2015
Edition description:	Unabridged

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