by Kai Bird with Susan Goldmark
First published 2026
Kai Bird examines Roy Cohn, the lawyer who influenced decades of American political life. Bird traces Cohn's career from his twenties, when he prosecuted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and orchestrated book burnings as a symbol of McCarthyism, through his later roles as the Mafia's legal representative in New York and mentor to Donald Trump. The biography reveals how Cohn built power through gossip networks, surviving three federal indictments while cultivating relationships with figures from Richard Nixon to Nancy Reagan. Bird explores the contradictions of a man who lived openly gay while fiercely denying his sexuality, died of AIDS in 1986, and later became the subject of Tony Kushner's play Angels in America. The book argues that Cohn operated as a mastermind behind the current direction of American politics, showing how his methods and influence shaped the rise of Trump, who called him daily and considered him his best friend.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, politics, 21st-century, true-crime, american-history
Vibes: compelling, controversial, dark, investigative, thought-provoking
Tropes: hidden-identity, rise-and-fall, unreliable-narrator
Setting: New York, United States
Period: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Cold War Era
16 pages · Audiobook · Simon & Schuster Audio
Content warnings: death, homophobia