About this item
Highlights
- "A gripping ground-level narrative...a marvel of reporting: tightly wound... but also panoramic.
- About the Author: Mark Bowden is the author of fifteen books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Black Hawk Down.
- 320 Pages
- Political Science, Political Process
Description
About the Book
"In the sixty-four days between November 3 and January 6, President Donald Trump and his allies fought to reverse the outcome of the vote. Focusing on six states--Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin-- Trump's supporters claimed widespread voter fraud. It was not a well-orchestrated matter. There was no guiding genius pulling the strings in key states for the defeated Donald Trump. In the weeks after the election, in counties and precincts all over the country, many local Republican officials and even Trump's own campaign workers washed their hands of his increasingly unhinged allegations of fraud. But there was no shortage of people willing to take up the fight. Urged on by Trump and his coterie of advocates, lawyers, and media propagandists, true believers turned on their colleagues, friends, and neighbors-- even those in their own party--to accuse them of rigging the election. The real story of the insurrection began months before Trump's mob attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. That riot was the desperate final act, emblematic of the clumsy, failed movement Trump had been building for years. It began in cities and small towns all over America on election day, November 3, 2020. Working with a team of researchers and reporters, Bowden and Teague uncover never-before-told accounts from the election officials fighting to do their jobs amid outlandish claims and threats to themselves, their colleagues, and their families. The Steal is an engaging, in-depth report on what happened during those crucial nine weeks and a portrait of the heroic individuals who did their duty and stood firm against the unprecedented, sustained attack on our election system to ensure that every legal vote was counted and the will of the people prevailed."--Provided by publisher.Book Synopsis
"A gripping ground-level narrative...a marvel of reporting: tightly wound... but also panoramic."-Washington Post
"A lean, fast-paced and important account of the chaotic final weeks."--New York Times
In The Steal, veteran journalists Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague offer a week-by-week, state-by-state account of the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
In the sixty-four days between November 3 and January 6, President Donald Trump and his allies fought to reverse the outcome of the vote. Focusing on six states--Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin--Trump's supporters claimed widespread voter fraud.
Caught up in this effort were scores of activists, lawyers, judges, and state and local officials. Working with a team of researchers and reporters, Bowden and Teague uncover never-before-told accounts from the election officials fighting to do their jobs amid outlandish claims and threats to themselves, their colleagues, and their families. The Steal is an engaging, in-depth report on what happened during those crucial nine weeks and a portrait of the dedicated individuals who did their duty and stood firm against the unprecedented, sustained attack on our election system and ensured that every legal vote was counted and that the will of the people prevailed.
Review Quotes
Praise for The Steal
"A gripping ground-level narrative of the weeks after Donald Trump lost the popular vote...The Steal is a marvel of reporting: tightly wound...but also panoramic - a kaleidoscope of stories about how officials and activists in pivotal states like Arizona and Georgia responded to Trump's false claims of election fraud...The result is a narrative that mirrors the way elections are actually run in the United States: state by state, county by county, precinct by precinct."--Washington Post
"The unheralded and mostly unknown Republicans active in local politics who refused to go along with Trump's lies--and played a key role in preserving American democracy--are the main subject of The Steal by the journalists Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague. At 230 pages of text, their book is a lean, fast-paced and important account of the chaotic final weeks of the Trump administration."--New York Times
"Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague have produced an indispensable and alarming ground-level record of how Donald Trump's attempt to steal the 2020 election played out in precincts and ballot-counting centers in key states...In their terrific new book...the authors have used a stethoscope to examine the minutia of the American election process. The result is a thrilling and suspenseful celebration of the survival of democracy...Bowden and Teague have performed a singular service."--The Guardian
"The strength of The Steal, Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague's meticulous micro-narrative published on the one-year anniversary of the attacks, is that it zooms in through the forest and down to the grassroots, where a deluded assortment of self-styled patriots sought to subvert democracy in the name of saving it, and a brave band of state and local officials--most of them Trump-supporting Republicans, in fact--actually did save it."--Air Mail
"The Steal is a terrifying picture of the civil war that began on Election Day 2020. Here is the rancor, distrust, and deception that spun into the conspiracies and rabbit holes that Donald Trump has used to undermine truth, logic, and common sense. This is the behind-the-scenes world of the Big Lie. The Steal reads like an edge-of-your-seat political thriller--one without a happy ending." --Michael Wolff, New York Times bestselling author of Landslide
"The Steal is brilliant, an incredibly important document reported without bile or self-righteousness. A book every conservative should read."--P. J. O'Rourke, New York Times bestselling author of How the Hell Did This Happen
"It's impossible to think of a better combination of writing and reporting talent to cover an historic assault on democracy than Mark Bowden and Matt Teague. That combination has produced a book that must be read now and will be read for many years to come. I made the mistake of starting The Steal in the evening and did not sleep until completed. It is incredibly informative, terrifying and a screeching klaxon of alarm for our democracy. Imagine A.J. Liebling and William Shirer combing to write about the Reichstag fire of 1933 and that's the sort of gift we--and history--have been given with The Steal."--Stuart Stevens, New York Times bestselling author of It Was All a Lie
both the valiant overseers of the voting process and the passionate Trump supporters fomenting dissent. Rousing, infuriating, sobering, and instructive, this page-turning account of the election debacle exposes the legal, political, and, sadly, even physical attacks on those civic-minded individuals trusted with upholding democracy's foundations and those committed to destroying that
About the Author
Mark Bowden is the author of fifteen books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Black Hawk Down. He reported at the Philadelphia Inquirer for twenty years and now writes for The Atlantic and other magazines.
Matthew Teague is a contributor to National Geographic, The Atlantic, Esquire, and other magazines, and executive producer of Our Friend, a feature film that premiered in 2021.