Now Available:

Thank You for Your Servitude:  Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission

by Mark Leibovich

Penguin Press

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

In the early months of Trump’s candidacy, the Republican Party’s most important figures, people such as Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Lindsey Graham, were united—and loud—in their scorn and contempt. Even more, in their outrage: Trump was a menace and an affront to our democracy. Then, awkwardly, Trump won.

Thank You for Your Servitude is Mark Leibovich’s unflinching account of the moral rout of a major American political party, tracking the transformation of Rubio, Cruz, Graham, and their ilk into the administration’s chief enablers, and the swamp’s lesser lights into frantic chasers of the grift. What would these politicos do to preserve their place in the sun, or at least the orbit of the spray tan? What would they do to preserve their “relevance”? Almost anything, it turns out. Trump’s savage bullying of everyone in his circle, along with his singular command of his political base, created a dangerous culture of submission in the Republican Party. Meanwhile, many of the most alpha of the lapdogs happily conceded to Mark Leibovich that they were “in on the joke.” As Lindsey Graham told the author, his supporters in South Carolina generally don’t read The New York Times, and they won’t read this book, either. All that cynicism, shading into nihilism, led to a country truly unhinged from reality, and to the events of January 6, 2021. It’s a vista that makes the Washington of This Townseem like a comedy of manners in comparison. 
 
Thank You for Your Servitude isn’t another view from the Oval Office: it’s the view from the Trump Hotel. We can check out any time we want, but only time will tell if we can ever leave.

On My Radar:

Citizens of the Green Room: Profiles in Courage and Self-Delusion
by Mark Leibovich
Blue Rider Press
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Author of the groundbreaking #1 New York Times bestseller This Town, Mark Leibovich returns with a masterly collection of portraits of Washington’s elite, and wannabe elites. Hailed by The Washington Post as a “master of the political profile,” Leibovich has spent his career writing memorable, buzz-worthy, and often jaw-dropping features about politicians and other notables. Currently chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine, Leibovich punctures the inflated personas of the powerful, and in Citizens of the Green Room, he reveals the lives, stories, and peculiarities behind the public masks.

A brilliant reporter with a talent for subversive, engaging storytelling, Leibovich maintains a refreshing conviviality with many of his subjects even as he renders incisive and unflinching assessments. His features have driven the national conversation while exposing the fallibilities of the kingmakers and media stars: consider his 2007 profile of Hillary Clinton, which unearthed a treasure trove of old letters that the then senator had written as a vulnerable young college student; or his much-talked-about 2010 portrait of Glenn Beck, which laid bare the tortured soul and precarious standing of the once invincible host and his uneasy relationship with his soon-to-be ex-employer FOX News. In the political arena, Leibovich’s portraits  of John Kerry, Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, and John McCain are already classics; they invariably remind us that great journalism and stylish writing are not only essential to the Republic but necessary to maintain the citizenry’s sanity and humor in the face of made-for-TV government.

On My Radar:

This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral - Plus Plenty of Valet Parking! - in America's Gilded Capital
Mark Leibovich
Blue Rider Press
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

 Hailed as “vastly entertaining and deeply troubling” (The New York Times Book Review), “as insidery as Game Change” (The Washington Post), and a “hysterically funny portrait of the capital’s vanities and ambitions” (The New Yorker), This Town captured America’s attention as the political book of 2013. With a new Afterword by author Mark Leibovich, the book that is changing the national conversation about Washington is available in a stunning new edition.

Washington, D.C., might be loathed from every corner of the nation, yet these are fun and busy days at this nexus of big politics, big money, big media, and big vanity. There are no Democrats and Republicans anymore in the nation’s capital, just millionaires. In This Town, Mark Leibovich, chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine, presents a blistering, stunning—and often hysterically funny— examination of our ruling class’s incestuous “media industrial complex.” Through his eyes, we discover how the funeral for a beloved newsman becomes the social event of the year. How political reporters are fetishized for their ability to get their names into the predawn e-mail sent out by the city’s most powerful and puzzled-over journalist. How a disgraced Hill aide can overcome ignominy and maybe emerge with a more potent “brand” than many elected members of Congress. And how an administration bent on “changing Washington” can be sucked into the ways of This Town with the same ease with which Tea Party insurgents can, once elected, settle into it like a warm bath.

Outrageous, fascinating, and very necessary, This Town is a must-read, whether you’re inside the Beltway—or just trying to get there.