Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America is a bestselling nonfiction book on the rise of Donald Trump. Written by Sarah Kendzior, the book was published in the US in 2020.
Topics covered
Kendzior's book traces the context and describes the history over the past 40 years of Donald Trump as a real estate developer with long-standing ties to organized crime. In explaining context, she describes economic transformation and decline of the US, including her current home town of Saint Louis. The remainder of the book's major chapters describe Trump's network and its foothold within or effects upon American society. These remaining chapters are approximately chronological, focusing in turn on the 1980s, the 1990s, the early 2000s, the late 2000s, 2010-2016, and 2016-2019. The book also contains an epilogue.
Reviews and influence
On 15 April 2020 the Washington Post listed Hiding in Plain Sight among the top ten bestselling non-fiction books. On April 26 and several other dates, Publishers Weekly listed Hiding in Plain Sight as a bestselling book in the category "Adults". On 23 April 2020, Hiding in Plain Sight was listed as a bestseller in the "New Release" category by the Vancouver Sun. Reviews have appeared in Library Journal, Medium Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and The Arts Fuse. Library Journal characterized Hidden in Plain Sight as "A chilling account of how the media, government, and public have failed to hold Trump accountable, and how this has significantly impacted U.S. democracy." Publishers Weekly wrote that "Political junkies will be familiar with much of Kendzior’s claims, but she offers a few surprises and many valuable insights into the president’s psychological motivations and methods of manipulation. This comprehensive, page-turning account presents a stark and uncompromising indictment of the Trump presidency as the culmination of a 'decades-long erosion of American stability, integrity, and democracy.'" Kirkus Reviews described the book as "A passionate call for immediate action against the 'transnational crime syndicate' that has supplanted the U.S." Keith Gottschalk, writing in Medium, stated that he was "struck by the sheer volume of jaw dropping revelations about Trump that are obviously unknown to his biggest fans". He wrote that Vogue published an interview with Kendzior about the book. The interviewer characterized the book as "a kind of counter-narrative to what so many of us assume about Trump—that he’s some kind of comic book villain who came out of nowhere.... Hiding in Plain Sight lays out the rise of Trump as something that’s been in the works for decades and involves a rather large cast of criminals and enablers." When the interviewer asked Kendzior whether she saw "something about his administration’s response to this global [COVID-19 pandemic that’s beyond mere incompetence or cynicism", Kendzior responded that
Editions
The book was published by in 2020 by Flatiron Press, a division of Macmillan:
