As his impeachment trial gets underway in Washington DC, former president Donald Trump’s problems continue with news that his niece Mary L Trump is to publish a follow-up to her exposé Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man (Simon & Schuster) this summer. The new book, entitled The Reckoning: America’s Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal, will be published by St Martin’s Press in the US, Allen & Unwin in the UK and Allen & Unwin ANZ in Australia and New Zealand.
According to the publisher, The Reckoning will “examine America’s national trauma rooted in its long history of slavery and civil rights abuses, but dramatically exacerbated by the impact of recent events and the Trump administration’s corrupt and immoral policies”.
It continues: “America’s failure to acknowledge this trauma, let alone root it out, has allowed it to metastasise. Whether it manifests itself in rising levels of rage and hatred, or hopelessness and apathy, the stress of living in a country many no longer recognise has affected everyone. America is suffering from PTSD—a new leader alone cannot fix it. An enormous amount of healing must be done to rebuild faith in America’s leadership and hope for the nation. It starts with The Reckoning.”
The UK and Commonwealth deal was concluded by Allen & Unwin publishing director Ed Faulkner with St Martin’s Kerry Nordling. Faulkner said: “Given the recent scenes at the US Capitol, to which we looked on from overseas in horror, it feels like this book is more important than ever. Mary Trump’s experience as a clinical psychologist, as well as her personal knowledge of the former president, means she is uniquely placed to help transform people’s understanding of America’s trauma and its future. It is a huge honour and privilege for us to publish it.”
Allen & Unwin ANZ publishing director Tom Gilliatt said: “What we’ve seen over the past four years is that America’s trauma is the world’s trauma. Understanding the causes of that trauma and the potential paths to healing have never been more vital. Mary Trump’s professional and personal vantage points give her a unique insight into what has been the most fundamental challenge to American democracy and American institutions in our lifetime. We look forward to help making her hugely timely and important book the bestseller it deserves to be.”
In words that will only add to the former president’s woes, Mary Trump observed: “For four years, Donald Trump has inflicted a series of traumas upon the American people, targeting anyone he perceived as the ‘other’ as an enemy. Women were discounted and derided, the sick were dismissed as weak and unworthy of help, immigrants and minorities were demonised and discriminated against, and money was elevated above all else. Finally, he demonstrated his stunning lack of concern for the American people with his wilful mishandling of the pandemic and the ensuing economic collapse. In short, he transformed our country into a macro version of my malignantly dysfunctional family.”
The Reckoning will be published in hardback, trade paperback and e-book in July 2021 on the Allen & Unwin imprint of Atlantic Books in the UK, and by Allen & Unwin in Australia and New Zealand.
publishing director Tom Gilliatt. The deal was struck with Kerry Nordling at St Martin’s Publishing Group.
