by Kai Bird
First published 2026
Kai Bird examines the life of Roy Cohn, the lawyer who influenced American politics for decades. Bird traces Cohn's career from his role as the young prosecutor who sent the Rosenbergs to their deaths and orchestrated book burnings during the McCarthy era. The biography follows Cohn as he became the Mafia's preferred attorney in New York, cultivated friendships with Nixon and the Reagans, and most importantly mentored Donald Trump. Bird argues that Cohn serves as the mastermind behind the current direction of American political life. The author explores how Cohn escaped legal consequences despite multiple federal indictments for bribery, perjury, and extortion. Bird reveals a man driven by insecurity about his sexuality, living what one friend called "a closet with neon lights." The book shows how Cohn's transactional relationships with gossip columnists gave him outsized influence. Bird offers readers insight into how one ruthless operator shaped the political landscape through his protégé Trump, whom he called daily and advised to "get vicious."
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, american, political-science, crime, non-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: mentor-protege, political-corruption, unreliable-narrator
Setting: New York
Period: McCarthy Era
528 pages · Hardcover · Scribner
Content warnings: homophobia