Romney: A Reckoning (Hardcover)
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A remarkably illuminating biography of one of America’s most fascinating political figures—including news-making revelations from Mitt Romney himself about dissension within today’s Republican Party—written with his full cooperation by an award-winning writer at The Atlantic.
Few figures in American politics have seen more and said less than Mitt Romney. An outspoken dissident in Donald Trump’s GOP, he has made headlines in recent years for standing alone against the forces he believes are poisoning the party he once led. Romney was the first senator in history to vote to remove from office a president of his own party. When that president’s supporters went on to storm the US Capitol, Romney delivered a thundering speech from the Senate floor accusing his fellow Republicans of stoking insurrection. Despite these moments of public courage, Romney has shared very little about what he’s witnessed behind the scenes over his three decades in politics—in GOP cloakrooms and caucus lunches, in his private meetings with Donald Trump and his family, in his dealings with John McCain, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell, Joe Manchin, and Kyrsten Sinema. Now, exclusively for this biography, Romney has provided a window to his most private thoughts.
Based on dozens of interviews with Romney, his family, and his inner circle as well as hundreds of pages of his personal journals and private emails, this in-depth portrait by award-winning journalist McKay Coppins shows a public servant authentically wrestling with the choices he has made over his career. In lively, revelatory detail, the book traces Romney’s early life and rise through the ranks of a fast-transforming Republican Party and exposes how a trail of seemingly small compromises by political leaders has led to a crisis in democracy. Ultimately, Romney: A Reckoning is a redemptive story about a flawed politician who summoned his moral courage just as fear and divisiveness were overtaking American life.
Few figures in American politics have seen more and said less than Mitt Romney. An outspoken dissident in Donald Trump’s GOP, he has made headlines in recent years for standing alone against the forces he believes are poisoning the party he once led. Romney was the first senator in history to vote to remove from office a president of his own party. When that president’s supporters went on to storm the US Capitol, Romney delivered a thundering speech from the Senate floor accusing his fellow Republicans of stoking insurrection. Despite these moments of public courage, Romney has shared very little about what he’s witnessed behind the scenes over his three decades in politics—in GOP cloakrooms and caucus lunches, in his private meetings with Donald Trump and his family, in his dealings with John McCain, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell, Joe Manchin, and Kyrsten Sinema. Now, exclusively for this biography, Romney has provided a window to his most private thoughts.
Based on dozens of interviews with Romney, his family, and his inner circle as well as hundreds of pages of his personal journals and private emails, this in-depth portrait by award-winning journalist McKay Coppins shows a public servant authentically wrestling with the choices he has made over his career. In lively, revelatory detail, the book traces Romney’s early life and rise through the ranks of a fast-transforming Republican Party and exposes how a trail of seemingly small compromises by political leaders has led to a crisis in democracy. Ultimately, Romney: A Reckoning is a redemptive story about a flawed politician who summoned his moral courage just as fear and divisiveness were overtaking American life.
McKay Coppins is a staff writer at The Atlantic where he covers politics, religion, and national affairs. He is the author of The Wilderness, a book about the battle for the future of the Republican Party, and he has been a visiting fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. He won the Aldo Beckman Award from the White House Correspondents Association for his coverage of the Trump presidency, and the Wilbur Award for religion journalism. He lives near Washington, DC, with his wife and children.
“Remarkable. Tapping hours of interviews and access to Mitt Romney’s private journals—and revealing a captivating array of insider moments—author McKay Coppins compellingly portrays a man wrestling with his conscience as he tries to do what’s right.”
—Susan Page, Washington Bureau chief at USA Today and author of Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power
“An extraordinary biography. Much of the fun comes from eavesdropping on the shameless things the political class is apt to say behind closed doors. The chance to inhabit those rooms is frequently as entertaining as it is depressing.”
—Mark Leibovich, author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers This Town and Thank You for Your Servitude
“As the emerging Edward Gibbon of American conservatism, McKay Coppins has written an important, vivid, and memorable portrait of that rare Republican soul who has had the courage to choose the difficult over the easy path in our tumultuous age. Mitt Romney is not perfect, but he has put principle above the strictly partisan in hours when virtually no one else had the wherewithal to do so. This is an essential book for our times.”
—Jon Meacham, author of the New York Times bestsellers And There Was Light and The Soul of America
“McKay Coppins is a superb reporter and a first-class thinker…With this book he comes forward as a first-class biographer, too.”
—Peggy Noonan, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
—Susan Page, Washington Bureau chief at USA Today and author of Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power
“An extraordinary biography. Much of the fun comes from eavesdropping on the shameless things the political class is apt to say behind closed doors. The chance to inhabit those rooms is frequently as entertaining as it is depressing.”
—Mark Leibovich, author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers This Town and Thank You for Your Servitude
“As the emerging Edward Gibbon of American conservatism, McKay Coppins has written an important, vivid, and memorable portrait of that rare Republican soul who has had the courage to choose the difficult over the easy path in our tumultuous age. Mitt Romney is not perfect, but he has put principle above the strictly partisan in hours when virtually no one else had the wherewithal to do so. This is an essential book for our times.”
—Jon Meacham, author of the New York Times bestsellers And There Was Light and The Soul of America
“McKay Coppins is a superb reporter and a first-class thinker…With this book he comes forward as a first-class biographer, too.”
—Peggy Noonan, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary