Big Break: The Gamblers, Party Animals, and True Believers Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind

The Big Break by Mark Leibovich is a definitive account of how Washington works in the post-Trump era. It explores how different people try to make it work for them, reporting from exclusive parties, poker nights, fundraisers, and Congress. The book takes a close look at the bold-faced names in Washington as they try to navigate the post-Trump landscape, including MAGA pilgrims, Resistance flame keepers, and veterans. It also introduces readers to the behind-the-scenes players who believe they know what Washington and America must do to survive or thrive.

Format: Hardback
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: 22 June 2023
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

No one gets today's Washington like Ben Terris. THE BIG BREAK is the definitive accounting of how it works in this ongoing post-Trump (pre-Trump?) maelstrom. I just imbibed this book. Mark Leibovich, author of This Town, The Big Break investigates how Washington works, and how different kinds of people try to make it work for them. Ben Terris presents an inside history of this crucial moment in Washington, reporting from exclusive parties, poker nights, fundraisers, secluded farms outside town, and the halls of Congress; among the oddballs, opportunists, and true believers. This book is about the people who see this moment as an opportunity to bet big on their country or maybe just on themselves. It will take a close look at Washington's bold-faced names as they try to get their bearings on the post-Trump (and possibly pre-Trump) landscape. And it will introduce readers to the behind-the-scenes players - MAGA pilgrims and Resistance flame keepers and shapeshifting veterans - who believe they know what Washington, and America, must do if they're going to survive, or even thrive.

Trump's arrival in Washington represented a big break in how the city operated. He surrounded himself with outsiders; power structures reorganized around those who knew him or his family and those who could flatter and influence his base. He changed the way the game was played, only it wasn't actually a game at all. When pro-Trump elements both inside and outside of government plotted to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election, the Capitol became a combat zone, then a military fortress.

It was, to put it lightly, a destabilizing time. But how much did the Trump years really change Washington? Has Joe Biden's presidency heralded a return to normal, as many had hoped? What did we learn from the chaos of the last four years, and what will the future hold for our nation's capital?

These are the questions that The Big Break seeks to answer. It is a powerful and essential read for anyone who wants to understand the state of Washington and the forces that are shaping its future.

Weight: 540g
Dimension: 232 x 156 x 34 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781538708057