First published 2026
Michael Lewis identifies six federal employees branded as "Blockers" during the early Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency purge. These public servants believed their work served essential national functions. One protected sensitive tax information from unauthorized access. Another enforced ethical standards for politicians and civil servants. A third developed wildfire prevention strategies for suburban areas. A fourth advanced cystic fibrosis research. The group included a security guard among others. Lewis chronicles how these dedicated workers discovered the government no longer valued their contributions. The author who made mortgage derivatives compelling in The Big Short and transformed baseball analytics into narrative gold in Moneyball now applies his storytelling skills to federal bureaucracy. He converts two years of administrative upheaval into a suspenseful account of career civil servants fighting for survival. Lewis poses a fundamental question about what happens when experienced public servants become expendable and what this transformation reveals about American governance.
Genres: biography, american, non-fiction, 21st-century, current-affairs, american-history
Vibes: compelling, narrative-driven, suspenseful, thought-provoking, urgent
Tropes: david-vs-goliath, institutional-conflict, whistleblower-narrative
Setting: United States, Department of Government Efficiency
Period: Trump Administration, Early 2010s
256 pages · Hardcover · W. W. Norton & Company