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Tony Schwartz's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Tony Schwartz recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Tony Schwartz's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1

The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump

27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President

The New York Times bestseller! More than two dozen psychiatrists and psychologists offer their consensus view that Trump's mental state presents a clear and present danger to our nation and individual well-being.

This is not normal.

Since the start of Donald Trump’s presidential run, one question has quietly but urgently permeated the observations of concerned citizens: What is wrong with him? Constrained by the American Psychiatric Association’s “Goldwater rule,” which inhibits mental health professionals from diagnosing public figures they have not...
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Recommended by Tony Schwartz, and 1 others.

Tony SchwartzThis is a book of essays, mostly by psychiatrists. The majority of books about Trump focus on his actions. This is a book about why he does what he does. It presents a range of interpretations about what Trump’s underlying personality disorder is, but there is consensus that he suffers from one. (Source)

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2
A CNN contributor, former Ted Cruz staffer, and "Never Trump" adherent reveals a shocking truth: Donald Trump’s lies and fabrications don’t horrify America—they enthrall us—and explains how we can avoid falling for them.

"Can you believe what Donald Trump said?"

In Gaslighting America, Carpenter breaks down Trump’s formula, showing why it’s practically foolproof, playing his victims, the media, the Democrats, and the Republican fence-sitters perfectly. She traces how this tactic started with Nixon, gained traction with Bill Clinton, and exploded under...
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Recommended by Tony Schwartz, and 1 others.

Tony SchwartzThe author, Amanda Carpenter, is the former press secretary to Ted Cruz and a die-hard, right-wing Republican. The very fact that she chose to write a critical book is interesting in itself. She does an incredibly good and persuasive job of deconstructing the secret to Trump’s success. She unfolds how over and over again, takes control of any given news cycle by doing things that would cause the... (Source)

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3
With extraordinary access to the West Wing, Michael Wolff reveals what happened behind-the-scenes in the first nine months of the most controversial presidency of our time in Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.

Since Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, the country―and the world―has witnessed a stormy, outrageous, and absolutely mesmerizing presidential term that reflects the volatility and fierceness of the man elected Commander-in-Chief.

This riveting and explosive account of Trump’s administration provides a wealth of...
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Recommended by Tony Schwartz, Seb Eckersleymaslin, and 2 others.

Tony SchwartzFrom my experience of Trump, this is the most deeply accurate book that’s been written about him—the chaos he creates and which has enveloped all of us since he took office. Michael Wolff has a remarkable capacity to get inside the heads of people. He does it in this book just as he did it in his book about Rupert Murdoch. (Source)

Seb Eckersleymaslin@shandsaker @ScottKilmartin @Hsuen Agreed. It’s tabloid. Read James Comey’s new book, it is much better. Some great lessons on true leadership in there. (Source)

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4
Politico Magazine’s chief political correspondent provides a rollicking insider’s look at the making of the modern Republican Party—how a decade of cultural upheaval, populist outrage, and ideological warfare made the GOP vulnerable to a hostile takeover from the unlikeliest of insurgents: Donald J. Trump.

The 2016 election was a watershed for the United States. But, as Tim Alberta explains in American Carnage, to understand Trump’s victory is to view him not as the creator of this era of polarization and bruising partisanship, but rather as its...
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Tony SchwartzAmerican Carnage was written by a journalist who identifies as conservative and who had great access to people who I don’t think would’ve spoken so openly to mainstream reporters. The book helps you understand, from the inside, how Trump took over the Republican Party. It’s weird and it’s fascinating. And it’s a perspective that I haven’t seen represented anywhere else. (Source)

Keith UrbahnGlowing @nytimes review for @TimAlberta: “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...the degrading story of the ultimate devil’s bargain.” https://t.co/ZBHPIBgd19 (Source)

Susan CooperThe great “Trump is a Christian” con continues, even though ... After 2016 Bible Slip, Trump Lashed Out at ‘So-Called Christians,’ Book Says https://t.co/gztHYNtt0k (Source)

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5
In Strangers in Their Own Land, the renowned sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild embarks on a thought-provoking journey from her liberal hometown of Berkeley, California, deep into Louisiana bayou country – a stronghold of the conservative right. As she gets to know people who strongly oppose many of the ideas she famously champions, Russell Hochschild nevertheless finds common ground and quickly warms to the people she meets – among them a Tea Party activist whose town has been swallowed by a sinkhole caused by a drilling accident – people whose concerns are actually ones that all... more

Tony SchwartzArlie Hochschild is a brilliant writer and a sociologist of great empathy and insight. Although the book was written before Trump was elected president, it goes a long way toward explaining him, and more specifically toward explaining why people embraced him. (Source)

Clara Jeffery@jwpetersNYT Anywho, Arlie spent 5 years embedded in Tea Party culture. Her book was an NYT best-seller and a National Book Award finalist. And she was hardly the only one that did deep reporting on the Tea Party before and after the 2016 election. (Source)

Kate MarvelHochschild argues that all social groups have a ‘deep story’: a narrative that makes the complicated world make sense. (Source)

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