First published 2023
Joe Biden stands at the Capitol on January 20, 2021, taking his presidential oath where police had recently fought right-wing militants. The nation faces multiple crises: COVID-19 ravages the population, economists predict financial disaster, and Democrats hold only the slimmest Senate majority. Rather than adopt a defensive posture, Biden chooses to pursue transformative change. He pushes the most ambitious domestic spending proposals since the 1960s while planning to end America's longest war in Afghanistan and pivot toward competition with China. Foer gained unprecedented access to Biden's inner circle of longtime advisers to document these pivotal years. The president gambles on old-school deal-making and compromise, an approach that initially appears outdated as he struggles to unite even his own party. Through bills with unremarkable titles, Biden manages to direct trillions toward clean energy, domestic semiconductor production, and infrastructure. Foer provides detailed insider accounts of the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal and the administration's rapid response to Russia's Ukraine invasion, culminating with the historic midterm elections.
Genres: historical-fiction, political-science, biography-memoir, 21st-century, current-affairs, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: insider-account, political-gamble
Setting: Afghanistan, Capitol, China, Russia, Ukraine, United States
Period: 2021, 2022
432 pages · Hardcover · Penguin Press