The Wilderness, McKay Coppins
The Wilderness, McKay Coppins
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The Wilderness
Deep Inside the Republican Party's Combative, Contentious, Chaotic Quest to Take Back the White House

Author: McKay Coppins

Narrator: John Glouchevitch

Unabridged: 14 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/01/2015

Synopsis

The explosive story of the Republican Party's intensely dramatic and fractious efforts to find its way back to unity and national dominance.

After the 2012 election, the GOP was in the wilderness. Lost and in disarray. And doggedly determined to do whatever it took to get back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. McKay Coppins has had unparalleled access to Republican presidential candidates, power brokers, lawmakers, and Tea Party leaders.

Based on more than 300 interviews, The Wilderness is the book that opens up the party like never before: the deep passions, larger-than-life personalities, and dagger-sharp power plays behind the scenes. In wildly colorful scenes, this exclusive look into the Republican Party at a pivotal moment in its history follows a cast of its rising stars, establishment figures, and loudmouthed insurgents -- Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Bobby Jindal, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Donald Trump, Scott Walker, and dozens of others -- as they battle over the future of the party and its path to the presidency.

About McKay Coppins

McKay Coppins is a staff writer at The Atlantic where he covers politics, religion, and national affairs. He is the author of The Wilderness, a book about the battle for the future of the Republican Party, and he has been a visiting fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. He won the Aldo Beckman Award from the White House Correspondents Association for his coverage of the Trump presidency, and the Wilbur Award for religion journalism. He lives near Washington, DC, with his wife and children.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Michael on January 21, 2016

As a Democrat, I hoped to read this book with a goal of understanding who these talking head personalities were that have been hogging my Twitter feed and CNN news coverage. I walked away with not only a deeper understanding of the GOP presidential candidates and their desires to become heir to the......more

Goodreads review by Meave on March 09, 2016

It is rare to see the other side's perspective, not just from a public, calculating, political angle, but as people. If nothing else, this book allowed me to empathize with some of the otherwise nightmarish 2016 GOP candidates, which I think is valuable, even as I wish they would take themselves and......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on January 01, 2018

I liked this book, but you could tell that it was written earlier in the primaries and rushed to press. It was heavy on Jindal, who (if I recall correctly) had dropped out of the race by the time the book was published.......more

Goodreads review by Rob on July 12, 2016

i was searching for a book that peaked inside the current republican party. i enjoyed this book because it offered full pictures of many of the candidates that ran for the nomination in the 2016 cycle. most of the candidates, who i find repulsive, were presented as full people with complex motivatio......more

Goodreads review by Greg on January 04, 2016

As a chronicle of political stuff that happened on the Republican side between 2012 and today, The Wilderness is alright. As an in-depth look at the overlarge cast of jokers, hucksters and fools currently stabbing each other in the back to become the next candidate for president with an R after his......more

Quotes

One of BuzzFeed's Best Nonfiction Books of 2015

"Coppins is a dogged reporter...and a deft storyteller....Lively and worthy reading for Americans who just can't get enough of one of the stranger major-party nomination fights in recent history."—John Diaz, San Francisco Chronicle

"In summary, Coppins' book was all I hoped it would be: fun and full of previously unknown stories that shed light on these GOP hopefuls."—W. Scott Lamb, The Washington Times

"A resounding study of the 'clash of egos and personalities' that is the Republican primary scramble. And what a clash it is.... A must for politics junkies."—Kirkus Reviews

"Smart and entertaining.... Offering up one revealing, behind-the-scenes story after another, [Coppins] covers their histories -- going back decades -- up through the present, when their political futures remain very much up in the air.... The Wilderness is helped immensely by the fact that Coppins is such a talented researcher and compelling writer. At times his irreverence is reminiscent of Hunter S. Thompson's sober and more lucid political pieces...."—Jim Swearingen, The National Book Review

"Slimebag... true garbage."—Donald Trump

"Coppins catches his subjects and their inner circles saying the darndest things....A welcome Baedeker to the personas that populate the 2016 Republican contest."—Lloyd Green, The American Conservative

"Coppins excels at personalizing the tale through the ambitions, tactics and delusions of his protagonists."—Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post

"Widely sourced and compellingly written, The Wilderness offers a rich and entertaining mix of gossip and political scheming...."—Walter Russell Mead, Foreign Affairs

"Learning about the seminal moments in the lives of some of today's GOP stars was one of the things I enjoyed most about McKay Coppins' new book The Wilderness.... A compelling read."—Matt K. Lewis, The Daily Caller

"Coppins captures these and other personal insights with the skill and style of a more seasoned political reporter. The Wilderness is a book that goes far to break up sound-bite, Twitter-enabled political messaging to reveal what voters need to know about this collection of self-styled rogues now fracturing the Grand Old Party."—Bill Barnhart, The Chicago Tribune

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