by Max Boot
First published 2019
Max Boot chronicles his political transformation from Republican foreign policy advisor to anti-Trump columnist. Boot begins with his immigration from the Soviet Union and traces his ideological journey through conservatism's Reagan-era peak. He documents how Trump's presidency violated democratic norms and shattered his faith in the Republican Party. Boot describes the personal cost of his public break with conservatism, including attacks from former conservative allies. The book examines the pathologies in Republican politics that enabled Trump's rise to power. Boot argues for a new centrist movement to defend democratic institutions. His account combines personal memoir with political analysis, showing how one man's ideological crisis reflects broader fractures in American conservatism. Boot reveals what it means to abandon a lifetime of political beliefs when faced with threats to democracy itself.
Genres: american, political-science, biography-memoir, 21st-century, current-affairs, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-journey, political-crisis
Setting: Soviet Union, United States
Period: Reagan Era, Trump Presidency
304 pages · Paperback · Liveright