100 Books That Defined the Decade
For good, for bad, for ugly.
Michael Wolff, Fire and Fury (2018)
George W. Bush, on the dais, supplied what seemed likely to become the historic footnote to the Trump address: “That’s some weird shit.”
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Essential stats: The President tried to keep Wolff’s White House exposé, which was “based on extensive access to the White House and more than 200 interviews with Trump and senior staff over a period of 18 months” from being published, but he could not, and it instantly sold out everywhere, quickly becoming what can only be described (grudgingly) as a publishing phenomenon. On Wednesday, January 3rd, six days before the book was scheduled to come out from Henry Holt, the excerpts started coming out online, and by 3 P.M. that day, the book had shot to #1 on Amazon’s best seller list. The White House sent a cease and desist letter to Wolff and Holt; Holt moved up the publication date to January 5th. It was the best selling book of the year. And then there was the sequel—no, I have to stop, I’m already exhausted.
Why was it so defining? Do you even have to ask? This is what this decade has come to.
Further: Ugh.
Emily Temple
Emily Temple is the managing editor at Lit Hub. Her first novel, The Lightness, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in June 2020. You can buy it here.
