Announcing the new book "The Curse of Demagogues: Lessons Learned from the Presidency of Donald J. Trump"

Expected release is next week

In light of Trump’s looming announcement of a third run for president, I have been working overtime this past week to finalize a collection of essays entitled The Curse of Demagogues: Lessons Learned from the Presidency of Donald J. Trump.

I edited the collection, wrote the introduction, and contributed seven of my previously published pieces from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and other outlets because I believe that the only way to combat the corruption and violence unleashed by Trump is for citizens, first, to understand demagogues and, second, to defend against them.

The contributor list is impressive. It includes Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian; Jeff Flake, former Republican U.S. senator; Barbara Comstock, former Republican U.S. congresswoman; Jill Abramson, former executive editor of The New York Times; Andrew Sullivan, former editor of The New Republic; and Jesse Wegman, editor at The New York Times, among others.

This is, of course, not the first time you have heard me declaim about demagogues as the greatest threat to democracies. Even so, here is the essence of the book and my beliefs:

The Curse of Demagogues, more than any other book about Trump in print, makes the story of his rise to the White House coherent and understandable. Trump, a demagogue, gained ascendancy in a laissez-faire political culture wherein neither the Republican Party nor the other gatekeepers of democracy, including the news media, effectively counteracted him. Once in the highest office in the land, Trump devolved into authoritarianism in order to retain power, as demagogues are well-known to do. 

You can read more on my website.

By agreement of the twenty-two contributors, the PDF and ebook versions of The Curse of Demagogues will be made available for free. A print version will be available on Amazon and other outlets.

My intention is to use the book to bring attention to the importance and urgency of solidly defeating Trump this time around to the point of permanent ostracism from American politics. That’s the goal—and the hope—at least.

You can help with this mission. Here’s how: The book is tops, but I am a novice marketer. So take a moment to share with me any advice you have on how to promote it. Any and all suggestions are warmly welcomed:

eli.merritt@vanderbilt.edu

I will keep you posted on actual dates of release.

Thanks for your support.