11 new Trump books for fans and critics of The Donald

Next week, Scribner will publish “Trump Revealed: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money, and Power” by two Washington Post reporters, Michael Kranish and Mark Fisher. On Friday, the paper gave readers a preview of the book, a portrait of Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.

The Trump campaign initially refused to participate in the book, but had an unexpected change of heart. Trump ended up talking to Post reporters for more than 20 hours, leaving them somewhat bemused.

“He rarely refused to answer our questions,” wrote Kranish and Fisher, “but when the subject was uncomfortable or raised doubts about some of his past decisions, he often gave us disjointed answers that steered into completely unrelated matters.”

In addition to his many books about business, Trump told his own story, as many hopeful presidential contenders do, in a book released in late 2015, “Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again.” For the paperback release last month, the book was retitled “Great Again: How To Fix Our Crippled America.”

The shelves are crowded with new books that have drawn inspiration from the real estate magnate and reality television star turned presidential candidate. Here’s a sample:

1. “TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald” by Timothy L. O’Brien (Grand Central, $14.99): First published in 2005 and reprinted this year with a new introduction, this book by investigative reporter O’Brien drew Trump’s ire for claiming the businessman wasn’t worth as much as he claimed. Trump sued O’Brien for libel, and lost, but not before stating in a deposition that his net worth “goes up and down with markets and with attitudes and with feelings, even my own feelings.”

2. “A Child’s First Book of Trump” by Michael Ian Black and Marc Rosenthal (Simon & Schuster, $15.99). Actor, comedian and author Black and illustrator Rosenthal, present a picture book about an attention-seeking orange “beasty” with an unruly yellow mane and a familiar name. It’s nominally for kids, but adults will appreciate some of the book’s inside jokes (“Its fur so complex you might get enveloped. / Its hands though are, sadly, underdeveloped”).

3. “Trump Talk: Donald Trump in His Own Words” by George Beahm (Adams Media, $12.99): “I know words, I have the best words,” Trump famously commented in December. This new book collects several of the candidate’s most interesting comments, such as his oft-quoted observations about Mexico: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

4. “The Truth About Trump” by Michael D’Antonio (Thomas Dunne, $16.99): D’Antonio’s book was first published last year with the title “Never Enough,” but it’s been updated for its paperback release this year. The author contends that Trump’s success has been “a kind of performance art that depended on his ability to manipulate, schmooze, and cajole.”

5. “Trump: A Graphic Biography” by Ted Rall (Seven Stories, $16.95). It’s no surprise that left-wing cartoonist Rall is no fan of Trump. His new biography-in-cartoons of the Republican candidate doesn’t pull any punches. In an excerpt from the book, Rall asks whether the real Donald Trump is “a wildly successful businessman” or “a fraud who got rich the old-fashioned way (inherited it) and then squandered his silver spoon?”

6. “Yuge! 30 Years of Doonesbury on Trump” by Garry B. Trudeau (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $14.99). Trudeau has been satirizing Trump for as long as anyone; his publisher’s page for the book quotes Trump from 1989: “Doonesbury is one of the most overrated strips out there. Mediocre at best.” This collection of Doonesbury comics, released in July, features the candidate as he was chronicled through the years.

7. “The Day of the Donald: Trump Trumps America” by Andrew Shaffer (Crooked Lane, $14.99). In this novel, satirist Shaffer imagines an America two years after Trump has moved into the Oval Office. The president hires a tabloid reporter as his official biographer, and he soon turns up some secrets that the Donald would rather keep hidden.

8. “...: A Theory of Donald Trump” by Aaron James (Doubleday, $15.95). The full title of James’ short book uses language that can’t be repeated here, but it is a Trump-focused follow-up to his previous book, “…: A Theory” which explored why people are jerks. The philosopher tries to explain Trump’s rise and popularity in the context of his theory of, uh, jerks. “We are not asking whether Trump is, in fact, [one]” James writes. “On this much there seems to be a broad consensus. ... Indeed, to many of his supporters, that may be his primary selling point.”

9. “The Trump Coloring Book” by M.G. Anthony (Post Hill, $11.99). Adult coloring books are all the rage these days, so it was perhaps inevitable that the already colorful Donald Trump would inspire one. It features Trump in various poses — sitting on the Iron Throne from “Game of Thrones,” for example, and as an astronaut on the moon. Be sure to stock up on orange crayons.

10. “Trump: The Art of the Deal” by Donald J. Trump with Tony Schwartz (Ballantine, $16.99). In a way, Trump’s hit 1987 book started it all. Though he was already a well-known figure, his memoir/advice book helped make him a household name all across America. How much of the book Trump actually wrote is disputed, though — Schwartz, the book’s credited co-author, says he wrote the whole thing and that he now regrets it. Last month he told the New Yorker,”I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is .... I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.”

11. “Trump Revealed: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money, and Power” by Michael Kranish and Mark Fisher (Scribner, $28) officially hits shelves Aug. 23. It has reached #13 in Amazon’s subcategory Politics & Social Sciences/Politics & Government/Elections & Political Process/Elections.

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