Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Gossipy and historically significant rolled into one book. What a read (or listen. With the hardback delayed for a month due to demand, I got the Audible book. It may have even more impact listening to it. Shocking.) Crazy that Trump proves the book's point in taking steps to stop its publication. Millions have bought it because of that--Trump's "fury" over this, and his "fire", are making Wolff an overnight millionaire. He conducted over 200 interviews, with White House staffers and others associated with Trump. His main questions were: "What is it like to work with Trump?" And "What do you feel like working with Trump?" The responses are frightening-- no one thinks Donald Trump is fit to be president, not even those who initially thought he might be new and refreshing in Washington. (The downside to this book is that Wolff is not an historian and isn't very interested in the current events that this White House creates. This shows the inner workings of a group of staffers close to the president and documents the dysfunction of the Trump administration--except for Pence who comes across as a meek lackey whose team is efficient and harmonious. When Wolff -does- venture to policy, he often gets it wrong--as he does describing the Russia Steele dossier and various swipes at the "liberal media" and their supposed unfairness to Trump. As a personality-driven book that sounds a warning, this is good. It is not a great book , though, and Wolff does not provide his own firsthand descriptions of the president.) Staffers call him a "moron" and "f-ing fool". He doesn't read, ever, and is described as "barely literate". He used to repeat the same 3 stories every thirty minutes. Now it's every ten minutes. At Mar-a-lago in January 2018 he didn't recognize old friends. Trump had invited Wolff to his Beverly Hills home after Wolff's 2016 profile of him. (The article was unflattering, but Trump loved the cover. That tells you something right there. ) He gave him unimaginable access to the White House -- as over 200 days Wolff set himself up in the lobby of the West Wing and wandered around like a fly on the wall--taking copious notes and making tapes of interviews. Per Wolff, "100%" of the people around President Trump don' t think he's fit to be president! They mostly describe him as "like a child"--needing instant gratification, throwing temper tantrums, with an unbelievably short attention span for a someone in this position, and no grasp of issues and -- worse -- no desire or ability to learn. Great read--and heartening that the president and his personal legal team couldn't stop its publication (though, incredibly, they tried to). Maybe he should have paid more attention when, per Wolf, his advisor (Sam Nunbergtried to teach him about the Constitution ("he pulled down his lip and his eyes rolled back in his head").