The Last American President, a Book Notice

 

Thirty years ago, Berrett-Koehler Publishers published my book Economic Insanity: How Growth-Driven Capitalism Is Devouring the American Dream. Berrett-Koehler was founded by Steve Piersanti, who started the company when he was fired as president of Jossey-Bass for refusing to lay off employees. I ran into Steve during the one year I worked as a literary agent. It was a reunion of sorts because Steve and I had been youth in the North Ogden 5th Ward. Steve is three years than I am, so we never went to school together, and I didn’t know Steve all that well back then. But Steve is one of the finest people you could ever meet. His publishing company is a leading-edge publisher of books on leadership, ethics, and organizational issues.

I have submitted a new book manuscript to Steve. It’s a follow-up to my now-thirty-year-old Economic Insanity. In the intervening years, the book market has changed dramatically, so Steve can’t afford to publish a book like mine that wouldn’t sell very many copies. I am, after all, a no-name in the market this book seeks to land in. I can live with that. But a couple of weeks ago, Steve sent me an email asking for my help in publicizing a book that Berrett-Koehler is releasing soon. It is by Thom Hartmann, who has a large following and a radio program, and he has written lots of very fine books.

This one, though, is probably the best and is undoubtedly the most timely and important. It is titled The Last American President: A Broken Man, a Corrupt Party, and a World on the Brink. Berrett-Koehler has made some sample pages available. They quite effectively summarize the book. The link to these sample pages is: https://berrettkoehler.sharefile.com/share/view/s038b78b6b8f444ffaba5aa0640460cd7.

I’ll copy the contents page here, so you can see what this book covers.

Contents
Introduction: The End Begins with a Smile   1

Part I The Making of Donald Trump   5
Chapter 1 Queens, Cruelty, and Fred Trump   7
Chapter 2 Roy Cohn’s Apprentice   17
Chapter 3 The Mask of Success   27

Part II The System That Built Trump   39
Chapter 4 The Party That Sold Itself Out   43
Chapter 5 Powered by Plutocrats   55
Chapter 6 The Death of Democracy Is Profitable   69
Chapter 7 From Birtherism to the Big Lie   81

Part III The Global Damage   95
Chapter 8 The Heist of Democracy: How America’s
Voting Rights Were Stolen in 2024   99
Chapter 9 America Ungoverned   105
Chapter 10 Autocrats United   113
Chapter 11 The Climate Collapse Presidency   123

Part IV The Last American President   125
Chapter 12 The Nightmare Scenario   129
Chapter 13 The Empathy Deficit: Democracy’s
Essential Ingredient   141
Chapter 14 Reform, Resist, and Remember   145

Epilogue   163
Notes   165
Acknowledgments   195
Index   197
About the Author   209

 

I’ve read Thom Hartmann before. He does excellent research and writes engagingly for a general readership. I would encourage everyone who sees this post to read the sample pages and, when it’s available, purchase this book.