How to Eat an Elephant - by Sarah Longwell (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The #1 National Indie and Audible bestseller and #2 New York Times bestseller!

The ultimate playbook for consigning MAGA-style politics to the ash heap of history for good. Featuring a foreword by Jonathan V. Last.

After Donald Trump won the 2024 election, Sarah Longwell did what she's done nearly every week for the past eight years: She sat down with voters. She conducted hundreds of focus groups, listening to thousands of ordinary Americans--Republicans, Democrats, and the politically homeless--with the goal of understanding politics through the eyes of the people who will decide our country's future.

American voters, and what they want for their country, are at the heart of How to Eat an Elephant. Longwell, the founder of The Bulwark and one of the sharpest political communicators of her generation, lays out the playbook for building a coalition big enough, bold enough, and tough enough to defeat authoritarian populism for good. Not with a single election. Not by doing another poll or debating the benefits of being more progressive or more moderate, but by building something new: A modern pro-democracy movement that can create its own communications infrastructure--just like the right has done for decades--achieve narrative dominance, elevate more compelling leaders, and talk to voters like adults.

Drawing on her own unlikely political journey from a lesbian Republican operative to the vanguard of the anti-MAGA movement, Longwell delivers a book that is equal parts war manual and pep talk--with her personal and professional story woven throughout. With her trademark bluntness and humor, she explains exactly how we got here and, more importantly, what we must build next--all while directly quoting the most important but overlooked people in the country: the voters themselves.

She answers the question: How do you eat an elephant? One voter at a time.

Review Quotes

"Longwell knows the Republican Party better than most Republicans, and understands the challenges of the Democratic Party better than most Democrats. Anything she writes is worth reading, especially this book."
--Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and bestselling author of Autocracy, Inc.

"No one gets the Trump-era voter like Sarah Longwell does. And she's done it the old-school way: by listening to more of this baffling species than any one political strategist ever should. How to Eat an Elephant is the essential product of Sarah's essential labor."
--Mark Leibovich, staff writer, The Atlantic

"Longwell has captured the political realignment of our age in real time, showing the moment in which American politics suddenly shifts from one era to the next. Those eager to have a say in the future of our democracy must listen to the voters who will build it. A must-read."
--Heather Cox Richardson, professor of history at Boston College and bestselling author of Democracy Awakening

"The definitive road map out of the authoritarian hellscape envisioned by Donald Trump and his merry band of enablers. When the history of this moment is written, Longwell's contributions to understanding why voters choose politicians they know are bad will be second to none. I cannot recommend this book more urgently."
--Nicolle Wallace, anchor of Deadline: White House

"Less autopsy and more manifesto, Longwell's book attempts to whip Democrats into fighting shape."
--Wall Street Journal

"Longwell's signature research tool is the focus group, the centerpiece of her popular podcast from the Bulwark... [She] critiques Democrats with the advantage of not being one herself, encountering them more the way independent swing voters do."
--The New Yorker

"Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark uses countless interviews with voters to analyze current political trends in America while offering a unique look at the future through the eyes of the voter."
--Barnes & Noble, Best Books of September 2026

"A timely, highly insightful analysis of modern American political realignment. Emerging as a New York Times bestseller, the book serves as a grounded, data-informed strategy guide for countering authoritarian populism by focusing directly on the foundational element of American democracy: the voter."
--The Moving Words Review

About the Author