From the Publisher
“The Bitter End is the best work on the 2020 campaign I have read. It’s the rare political book that doesn’t ignore the day-to-day details but also captures the broader dynamics that shape American politics. Even those who watched cable news, scrolled Twitter, and read all the big papers every day in 2020 will learn new things.”—Perry Bacon Jr., national political writer
“If you want a lay of the land of U.S. politics, rooted in the leading social science, and written in an engaging manner, look no further. Sides, Tausanovitch, and Vavreck digest the results of their massive Nationscape study and help us see the 2020 presidential election as the culmination of long-term trends, the pandemic, and identity shocks.”—Katherine Cramer, University of Wisconsin–Madison
“This richly detailed, fast-paced book surely will become the definitive work on the 2020 presidential campaign. Deftly combining narrative accounts with academic analyses,
The Bitter End is accessible to all who wish to better understand a campaign whose echoes continue to reverberate across the American political landscape.”
—Morris P. Fiorina, Stanford University“The Bitter End is indispensable for understanding the bitter calcification that now paralyzes American politics. The authors combine powerful data and sharp analysis to show how good faith has been boiled out of our politics, creating a take-no-prisoners partisan battlefield that deeply threatens our democracy. For any student of politics, concerned citizen, or politician, this is a must-read.”—Mike Murphy, political consultant
"The Bitter End provides critical new insights showing how Trump used identity issues and base appeals to hold his supporters in place through a norm-shredding presidency, a pandemic, and, ultimately, an insurrection. Anyone who cares about the future of American democracy needs to grapple with the findings in this book.”—Brendan Nyhan, Dartmouth College
“The Bitter End deftly weaves together an impressive amount of data, wise analysis, and engaging writing to tell the story of the 2020 election. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to better understand the dire state of our politics and our democracy.”—Ben Rhodes, author of After the Fall: Being American in the World We Made
