Romney: A Reckoning
AuthorMcKay Coppins
LanguageEnglish
PublisherScribner Book Company
Publication date
24 October 2023
Pages416
ISBN978-1982196202

Romney: A Reckoning is a 2023 biography about the political life of U.S. Senator Mitt Romney and is written by McKay Coppins, a journalist at The Atlantic. The book is largely based on Romney's reckoning with a Republican Party he once led, and his dismay at its political realignment in the era of 45th U.S. president Donald Trump. It contains many of Romney's interviews, private emails, text messages, diary entries, and documented personal grievences. It was released on 24 October 2023. It debuted at number 3 on the New York Times Best Sellers list[1].

Background

Romney: A Reckoning is sourced from 45 interviews with Romney across two years,[2] The interviews were conducted weekly starting from the spring of 2021.[3] Coppins also used Romney's private diary entries from 2011 and text messages.[2] According to Politico, Coppins occasionally "[pressed] Romney in ways he did not always like".[4] Subsequently, they agreed for Romney to read the manuscript and for Coppins to "listen to his concerns" but not to have editorial control.[4][5]

Synopsis

The book covers Romney's political record, including the 2012 United States presidential election, his role as a senator, the 2020 election and the subsequent attack on the Capitol, and Romney's opinions of Donald Trump.[6][7][8] In the book, Romney expressed critical views of Donald Trump and various other Republicans.[2][9]

Release

Romney: A Reckoning was released on 24 October 2023.[10][11] According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the release of the book is "highly anticipated".[12]

Reception

In a review for The New York Times, Thomas Mallon stated that the book was "in many ways a straightforward biography", but described that it "has the intimacy of a small subgenre of political confessions".[2] Mallon also described much of the book's early part as headlong. Michael Luo from The New Yorker said that the book was instructive and "a rare feat in modern-day political reporting" in which "the subject engages in actual introspection".[3] A review in The Los Angeles Times called the book a "scoop-rich biography" and lauded the "tell-all details".[13] NPR named it one of the best books of 2023, with Scott Detrow writing, "It’s one of the best political books I’ve read in years, and it provides key insights into how drastically the Republican Party has shifted in the decade since Romney was its presidential nominee[14]."

Reviewing for The Washington Post, Alex Beam called the book "occasionally interesting and often a little bit bland", describing Romney himself as "the biggest disappointment of the book" and remarked that it was "more like a ghostwritten autobiography than a biography of record".[15] The book was also reviewed in The Wall Street Journal[5] and was previewed in New York Magazine.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction - Best Sellers - Books - Nov. 12, 2023 - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Mallon, Thomas (2023-10-19). "The Twilight of Mitt Romney". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
  3. 1 2 Luo, Michael (2023-10-23). "Did Mitt Romney Save His Soul?". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
  4. 1 2 Kruse, Michael (2023-10-24). "'I Mean, Is This My Party?'". POLITICO. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  5. 1 2 Continetti, Matthew (2023-10-23). "'Romney: A Reckoning' Review: The Unhappy Statesman". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
  6. ↑ Bailey, Phillip M. "Republicans bash Trump, McConnell ghosts Romney: 5 takeaways from upcoming biography". USA Today. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
  7. ↑ Hook, Janet (2023-10-19). "Mitt Romney made a stand against the radical new GOP. But was he also complicit?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
  8. ↑ Gold, Michael (2023-10-19). "Mitt Romney's Sickest Burns: Book Reveals Harsh Views of Fellow Republicans". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
  9. ↑ Romboy, Dennis (2023-10-23). "What Donald Trump says about the new Mitt Romney biography". Deseret News. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  10. ↑ Poonia, Gitanjali; Tomco, Brigham (2023-10-20). "7 big revelations from new biography on Sen. Mitt Romney". Deseret News. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
  11. ↑ Pengelly, Martin (2023-10-19). "Romney mulled Trump job for 'noble and self-centered' reasons, book says". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
  12. ↑ Noyce, David. "What Mitt Romney sees as the greatest threats to the LDS Church". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
  13. ↑ Hook, Janet (2023-10-19). "Mitt Romney made a stand against the radical new GOP. But was he also complicit?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  14. ↑ "Books We Love". NPR. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
  15. ↑ Beam, Alex (2023-10-19). "In 'Romney: A Reckoning,' Mitt's self-awareness only goes so far". The Washington Post.
  16. ↑ Hartmann, Margaret (2023-10-19). "The Juiciest Revelations From Mitt Romney's Tell-All Biography". Intelligencer. Retrieved 2023-10-21.
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