Last year, the Washington Post published a popular series that celebrated public servants who accomplish great deeds for their fellow citizens—but do so out of the limelight, with little recognition. Edited by Michael Lewis, the series is now out as a book: Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service (Riverhead, March 18). The book’s release couldn’t be more timely, given that the Trump administration, guided by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, recently fired tens of thousands of federal workers.
Who Is Government? stands as a strong rebuttal to the vague Trumpian goal of “draining the swamp.” The book’s essays—written by W. Kamau Bell, Dave Eggers, Sarah Vowell, and others—put a human face on government employees who are working tirelessly, for modest wages, to improve life for all of us, regardless of party affiliation. As Ronald Walters, the esteemed director of the National Cemetery Administration, tells contributor Casey Cep, “There’s no Republican or Democratic way to bury a veteran.”
Not surprisingly, many books about politics and power are emerging as Trump’s second term ramps up. An insightful and sobering entry is The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America (Random House, April 22), which examines a “carefully organized assault on the U.S. government,” as author David A. Graham calls it. Our review describes the book as “essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of the Trumpian maelstrom.”
For those who want a better understanding of the presidential race itself, there are two worthy (and dishy) books: Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes’ Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House (Morrow/HarperCollins, April 1) and Alex Isenstadt’s Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power (Grand Central Publishing, March 18). The authors of Fight, our reviewer says, “toggle between the parties, a sensible approach that feels fresh amid a sustained onslaught of Trump-centric books.” As for Revenge, our critic sums it up as a “sturdy account of how we got where we are, vindictive chaos leading the way.”
Even more gossipy is Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater’s new book, whose gallows humor is telegraphed in its long subtitle: Mad House: How Donald Trump, MAGA Mean Girls, a Former Used Car Salesman, a Florida Nepo Baby, and a Man With Rats in His Walls Broke Congress (Random House, March 25). “Much more fun than the Mueller Report,” our critic says, “but just as damning.”
Another new book takes a more expansive view of the state of politics—and leaves the reader feeling there might be solutions to many of our problems. In Abundance (Avid Reader Press, March 18), journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson write forcefully of their frustrations with government inaction, focusing on our need for better health care, more housing, and high-speed rail. Yes, anti-government sentiment has stalled projects, they write, but so has an excess of well-meaning regulations that muck up the works. We gave the book a starred review, deeming it “very smart and eminently useful.”
John McMurtrie is the nonfiction editor.
