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The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir Hardcover – June 23, 2020
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The result is a White House memoir that is the most comprehensive and substantial account of the Trump Administration, and one of the few to date by a top-level official. With almost daily access to the President, John Bolton has produced a precise rendering of his days in and around the Oval Office. What Bolton saw astonished him: a President for whom getting reelected was the only thing that mattered, even if it meant endangering or weakening the nation. “I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn’t driven by reelection calculations,” he writes. In fact, he argues that the House committed impeachment malpractice by keeping its prosecution focused narrowly on Ukraine when Trump’s Ukraine-like transgressions existed across the full range of his foreign policy—and Bolton documents exactly what those were, and attempts by him and others in the Administration to raise alarms about them.
He shows a President addicted to chaos, who embraced our enemies and spurned our friends, and was deeply suspicious of his own government. In Bolton’s telling, all this helped put Trump on the bizarre road to impeachment. “The differences between this presidency and previous ones I had served were stunning,” writes Bolton, who worked for Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43. He discovered a President who thought foreign policy is like closing a real estate deal—about personal relationships, made-for-TV showmanship, and advancing his own interests. As a result, the US lost an opportunity to confront its deepening threats, and in cases like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea ended up in a more vulnerable place.
Bolton’s account starts with his long march to the West Wing as Trump and others woo him for the National Security job. The minute he lands, he has to deal with Syria’s chemical attack on the city of Douma, and the crises after that never stop. As he writes in the opening pages, “If you don’t like turmoil, uncertainty, and risk—all the while being constantly overwhelmed with information, decisions to be made, and sheer amount of work—and enlivened by international and domestic personality and ego conflicts beyond description, try something else.”
The turmoil, conflicts, and egos are all there—from the upheaval in Venezuela, to the erratic and manipulative moves of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, to the showdowns at the G7 summits, the calculated warmongering by Iran, the crazy plan to bring the Taliban to Camp David, and the placating of an authoritarian China that ultimately exposed the world to its lethal lies. But this seasoned public servant also has a great eye for the Washington inside game, and his story is full of wit and wry humor about how he saw it played.
- Print length592 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSimon & Schuster
- Publication dateJune 23, 2020
- Dimensions1.69 x 6.42 x 9.45 inches
- ISBN-101982148039
- ISBN-13978-1982148034
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“As much as you think you know about the arrogance, vanity and sheer incompetence of Trump’s years in the White House, Bolton’s account will still astonish you... No wonder the White House was so determined to block this book.” – David Ignatius, Washington Post
"A scathing and revelatory account... indispensable, jaw-dropping, and specific...what a truth he offers us." – The New Yorker
“Bolton's bombshell book shows it's still possible to be shocked by Trump's presidency” – The Guardian
“Mr. Bolton’s volume is the first tell-all memoir by such a high-ranking official who participated in major foreign policy events and has a lifetime of conservative credentials. It is a withering portrait of a president ignorant of even basic facts about the world, susceptible to transparent flattery by authoritarian leaders manipulating him and prone to false statements, foul-mouthed eruptions and snap decisions that aides try to manage or reverse.” – The New York Times
“The most substantive, critical dissection of the president from an administration insider… lays out a long series of jarring and troubling encounters between the president, his top advisers and foreign leaders.” – Washington Post
“A book full of damning details” – The Economist
“Explosive” – Business Insider
“Devastating portrait” – Telegraph
“Eye-popping” – CNN
"Jarring" – Jake Tapper, CNN
"Shows the scale and depth of Trump’s depravity and corruption." – The Atlantic
"A service to the nation... There is no question that this book contains explosive revelations that could well have an impact on the election." – Thomas Wright, The Brookings Institute, The Atlantic
“The details are damning.” – Fareed Zakaria
“The most devastating indictment yet.” – Nicolle Wallace
“A harrowing portrait” – Mother Jones
"Absurdly entertaining" - Ben Domenech, The Federalist
“A riveting read” - Trevor Noah, The Daily Show
"The most important White House memoir yet to emerge from the Trump administration" – National Review
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster; First Edition (June 23, 2020)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 592 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1982148039
- ISBN-13 : 978-1982148034
- Item Weight : 1.7 pounds
- Dimensions : 1.69 x 6.42 x 9.45 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #35,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author

John R. Bolton served as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from April 9, 2018 until his resignation on September 10, 2019. From January 2007 until April 2018, he served as a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
He was appointed as United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations on August 1, 2005 and served until his resignation in December 2006. Prior to his appointment, Ambassador Bolton served as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security from May 2001 to May 2005.
Throughout his career, Ambassador Bolton has been a staunch defender of American interests. While Under Secretary of State, he advocated tough measures against the nuclear weapons programs of both Iran and North Korea, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction worldwide. He led negotiations for America to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty so that the Bush Administration could proceed with a national missile-defense program.
Ambassador Bolton has spent many years in public service. Previous positions he has held include assistant secretary for International Organization Affairs at the Department of State, 1989-1993; assistant attorney general, Department of Justice, 1985-1989; assistant administrator for Program and Policy Coordination, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1982-1983 and general counsel, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1981-1982.
Ambassador Bolton is the author of Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the U.N. and Abroad, published by Simon and Shuster (November 2007) and How Barack Obama Is Endangering our National Sovereignty, published by Encounter Books (April 2010).
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Customers find the book informative and detailed, providing an insightful commentary on fascinating subjects. However, some readers found the content boring and disappointing, describing it as a waste of time and money. They also felt the author's egotism and self-promotion were overdone. Opinions were mixed on readability - some found it well-written and easy to follow, while others found it hard to follow and dense. There were mixed views on value for money - some considered it worth the price, while others thought it was not worth the cost.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book informative and insightful. They appreciate the content matching the observable facts. The subjects are fascinating, and the author punctuates his observations with numerous sources. The book contains substantial details about events in the administration, making it an important read that provides insights into an Administration.
"John Bolton's Book "The Room Where it Happened" is a very interesting account of what happened during his tenure and what government officials,..." Read more
"...John Bolton’s White House memoir is a tour de force, vividly recounting the policy wins, fumbles, and cast of actors, including at the epicenter..." Read more
"...telling the story as he sees it from his perspective, and it is a very valid one...." Read more
"...However, this is a book intended to inform the general public (regardless of your position or opinion of the information)...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's detail. They find it provides a comprehensive day-by-day account of the beginning years of the Trump presidency. The author takes detailed notes and documents the reasoning behind American interests and decisions clearly. The book also gives blow-by-blow details of interactions between the principal executives.
"...presents a memoir that paints American interests and the reasoning behind them very clearly, and he does so in a way that will allow scholars and..." Read more
"...He is helped enormously by what was clearly a VERY detailed daily real time note taking discipline...." Read more
"...One thing you get from reading this book is a more detailed discussion of events as they unfolded than you might have gotten from the media...." Read more
"...may have had strong feelings about some issues, he had, probably, more experience and extensive knowledge than any other individual assembled in..." Read more
Customers have different views on the book's readability. Some find it engaging and well-written, with clear prose. Others find it hard to follow, dense, and bogged down with too much detail.
"...It's a shame given the subject matter. I believe it's an important book to read but be aware that it's a slog." Read more
"...The book describes intrigues, conflicts, dysfunction and a President who is vindictive, thoughtless, incompetent, unpredictable, does things on a..." Read more
"...Bolton is very bright, as Jim Baker noted decades ago, and very well-read, even endorsing his fellow..." Read more
"...Such detail. And dialogue. The proof of Bolton’s effort is in his massive list of supporting notes at the book’s end...." Read more
Customers have different views on the book's value for money. Some find it worth the price and say it raises the military budget, while others say it's not worth the money and that it's probably the most expensive Kindle book they have ever purchased.
"...Most stunning complaint is that Germany does not pay enough for its defense...." Read more
"...Trump (Bolton at first thought that Mattis was responsible) raised our military budget...." Read more
"...information will be helpful to historians but it is of minimal value to the average reader. The book tackles events by topic rather than chronology...." Read more
"...but it still paints a picture of a chaotic administration with no value system...." Read more
Customers find the book boring and disappointing. They say it lacks a narrative, is poorly written, and is not a complete account of events.
"...The book describes intrigues, conflicts, dysfunction and a President who is vindictive, thoughtless, incompetent, unpredictable, does things on a..." Read more
"...It's a wonky, clumsy read. If this were a textbook, I would be more forgiving...." Read more
"...is a bit Hobbesian – a description of human existence as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.”..." Read more
"...If it is tradition, it has to go. All in all, this book is an interesting and factual account of what is so terribly wrong with our government and..." Read more
Customers find the book egotistical and condescending. They describe it as self-laudatory, elitist, and lacking personality and passion.
"...describes intrigues, conflicts, dysfunction and a President who is vindictive, thoughtless, incompetent, unpredictable, does things on a whim, and..." Read more
"...it Happened" is poorly written, and often boring and vindictive against several cabinet members...." Read more
"...It’s a damning reflection about a sitting president as the election draws near...." Read more
"...1. Trump is volatile, inconsistent, narcissistic, vindictive, and incompetent. Hardly news. 2. Bolton thinks Mnuchin is a dipwad...." Read more
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Bolton Tried In Every Way Possible to do His Job...and Failed...
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2020John Bolton's Book "The Room Where it Happened" is a very interesting account of what happened during his tenure and what government officials, world leaders and Trump said in the White House and in other places. The stories told are quite amazing and sometimes shocking. The stories are not classified information as the book has been carefully vetted. People on the left may have a hard time with the book because they do not like Bolton, or they disagree with his dislike for Democrats and Obama. Trump supporters may not want to even consider reading this book. Therefore, this book may be more for centrist/independents, or people not so invested in their politics that they at least are open to entertaining the idea that the Trump Presidency is a disaster. I would still encourage everyone to try to read it because it contains so much important information about what has been going on over the last few years.
The book describes intrigues, conflicts, dysfunction and a President who is vindictive, thoughtless, incompetent, unpredictable, does things on a whim, and who will not listen and cannot learn. He refuses to understand US national security issues and how alliances and international relations work. He is ignorant of even the basic knowledge of government affairs and the world and he has an enormous ego. The way I interpret what Bolton is saying about the impeachment process is that Trump has done things for which he should or could be impeached and convicted. However, the impeachment process was too narrow and too partisan, the second article was BS, and Bolton’s testimony would not have made a difference.
There were some things that stood out to me. When Xi Jinping was telling Trump that there were political figures in the US hostile to China Trump assumed, he meant Democrats and answered, “Trump said approvingly that there was great hostility among the Democrats. He then, stunningly turned the conversation to the coming US Presidential election, alluding to China’s economic capability to affect the campaigns, pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win”. A few pages after this statement Trump encouraged Xi to put a Chinese ethnic minority in concentration camps. The page before, during negotiations to release two American citizens held hostage by China, Xi told Trump they are dual citizens. Trump just said "OK", shrugged his shoulders, and dropped it. So much for caring about American citizens.
Another example is when Trump’s ego allowed Kim Jong Un (North Korea) to play him like a fiddle and give away US negotiating advantages to North Korea, especially joint military exercises. About the Kurds Trump said, “I don’t like the Kurds. They ran from the Iraqis, they ran from the Turks, the only time they don’t run is when we’re are bombing all around them with F-18s”. Trump’s pressure campaigns involving Halkbank, ZTE, and Huawei and others could be classified as “high crimes and misdemeanors” according to Bolton. Whether the Ukraine saga was impeachable or not, Trump’s behavior was disturbing and highly inappropriate to Bolton (and me). Trump threatened to adjourn Congress, wrongly citing a constitutional provision that has never been used. Trump said, “when somebody is the President of the United States, the authority is total, and that’s the way it’s got to be”.
The list of things that I found deeply disturbing is quite long. However, the many quite ignorant things that Trump said that Bolton mentions are both disturbing but also quite entertaining. Trump expressed great surprise when Theresa May told Trump that Britain was a Nuclear Power. Trump told Xi that he was the greatest Chinese leader in 300 years. Then the time when Trump arrives very late for the preparations for the meeting with the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, and someone says the Japanese might be our best allies to which Trump angrily responds that they attacked Pearl Harbor. When the CFO of Huawei is arrested for espionage Trump said, “we have just arrested the Ivanka Trump of China”. When Trump thought Finland was part of Russia (remember he was going there for a meeting with Putin). When Trump agreed to recognize Guaido as the leader of Venezuela during the civil strife to get rid of Maduro Trump added unhelpfully “I want him to say he will be extremely loyal to the United States and no one else”. As a side note, Maduro was able to stay on largely thanks to Trump’s incompetence.
Another example, the 2014 NATO Cardiff agreement requires all member states to spend 2% of their GDP on self-defense/military by 2024. Trump thought that meant that countries should spend 2% on NATO (well he most likely still think so). United States spends 4% of GDP on its military, which includes domestic defenses, Afghanistan, Middle East, Asia, NATO, everything. However, Trump thinks it means spending 4% on NATO, which is false, and no one can convince him otherwise. Trump spent the NATO summit berating NATO countries and even countries not part of NATO (Ukraine) referring to the false idea that US pay 4% of GDP to NATO and they pay less. Sure I (and John Bolton) agree that the Cardiff agreement should be followed but Trump's repeated lengthy attacks on the other members were misguided in its delivery.
This book is really a large collection like the examples I’ve given. It is therefore quite interesting and entertaining reading. Who doesn’t like a few hundred crazy stories involving the world’s leaders, especially with Trump acting like Basil Fawlty on the world stage? It was sometimes hard to put this quite large book down. It was also disturbing reading. You certainly won’t feel that you are in good hands after reading this book.
I didn’t agree with all of Bolton’s opinions and agendas and I think he is trying a bit too hard to appear to be the one who held it all together while it was still possible for him to stay on. However, the book conveys important information, it is well written, and Bolton is surely a great storyteller. I highly recommend this book.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2020The estimable John Bolton’s White House memoir is a tour de force, vividly recounting the policy wins, fumbles, and cast of actors, including at the epicenter Trump, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s an eminently worthwhile read, at times delightful, at times painful.
Bolton and Trump are very different men. Bolton was the National Security Advisor, Trump the Chief. The lawyer and NSA operated from a policy compass. The former real-estate mogul’s approach was transactional.
Bolton was exasperated the President didn’t follow “any international grand strategy, or even a consistent trajectory” with national security decisions often hinging “more on political than on philosophy, strategy or foreign policy and defense rationales.”
The mustachioed NSA’s tarred by critics as a dastardly neocon. He’s not. Bolton’s decidedly a hard-nosed nationalist believing muscular foreign and defense policies and America engaged with the world, are in the national interest.
Trump’s overweening vanity and conceit only he can clinch the breakthrough deal, are a weakness, and played on by the world’s bad actors.
Trump’s flattery of North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un, Chinese Emperor Xi, Russian capo di tutti capi Putin, and Turkish Islamist Erdogan isn’t seemly. Nor, more importantly, does it advance US interests. For Bolton the currencies these political leaders understand are interests and force.
He views Russia and China as threats that must, ideally with allies, be firmly managed. While Bolton understands Putin’s a bad actor there’s perhaps a grudging respect, describing him as “totally in control, calm, self-confident” and “totally knowledgeable on Moscow’s national-security priorities,” in implied contrast with the Leader of the Free World.
The hawkish NSA wanted to prevent Iran’s mullahs from obtaining nuclear weapons and North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal because America and the Free World would be safer. US interest in Afghanistan is in preventing it from being used as a platform for Al Qaeda and others to launch attacks on the US, and to affect neighboring nuclear Pakistan’s and terror sponsor Iran’s calculations. While he’d be pleased if Iran and Afghanistan were magically transformed into Switzerlands of the Middle East, it’s improbable, not the objective, and not worth spending American blood and treasure on.
Notwithstanding fiery rhetoric, Trump is a dove, perhaps the most dovish president in a century. More hawkish Bolton views military force as a time-honored, necessary, and effective policy instrument.
He’s appalled when the Commander in Chief cancels an already launched retaliatory air strike against several Iranian military installations, describing it as “the most irrational thing” he “ever witnessed any President do.” It signaled weakness to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump all declared Iran wouldn’t be permitted to obtain nuclear weapons. Bush and Obama punted. Likely Trump will as well. A more comprehensive US military strike could destroy its nuclear-weapons program, and, would have a salutary effect on other bad actors.
In the maelstrom of “thinking” like an “archipelago” of “individual real estate deals,” Trump implemented policies dear to Bolton. He pulled America out of the Iran Nuclear Deal, Paris Climate Accord, and INF Treaty, and moved the embassy to Jerusalem, none of which would have happened under an establishmentarian president, Democrat or Republican.
Not unlike Obama’s covering up Russian violations of the INF Treaty, Trump wanted to ignore Kim Jong Un continuing to test ballistic missiles. His clear-eyed NSA confronts the grim reality.
While the President’s jawboning allies to share more of the defense burden is often crude, Presidents Bush and Obama professed the same objective.
Western European allies, come across as pantywaists, happy to free-ride, and more worried about preventing the US from acting forcefully than in preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons or keeping the Russian bear at bay.
Bolton’s a free trader who thinks crushing economic sanctions swiftly applied can be useful, whereas the former real-estate mogul in the Oval Office is instinctively a mercantilist. Trump more than his NSA has an abiding faith in the effectiveness of and enthusiasm for tariffs and economic sanctions. Sanctions, however, aren’t a panacea.
In pursuit of a ballyhooed managed-trade deal with China, Trump and Mnuchin wanted to relax restrictions Chinese telecom company ZTE was subject to under a criminal-consent decree for violating Iran and North Korea sanctions. Pursuit of the deal trumped everything. Bolton mocks “panda hugger” Steve Mnuchin for his joy “getting China to agree to purchase more soybeans” and “other agricultural products,” as if America were “a Third World commodity supplier to the Middle Kingdom.” In the same vein David Goldman in You Will Be Assimilated worries with China the US is “drifting toward the export profile of Brazil,” strong in agricultural commodities and energy but weak in high-tech manufacturing.
Bolton collaborates and contends with a gallery of actors with their own agendas and quirks, in addition to his boss.
Mnuchin waters down and frustrates economic sanctions against China, Maduro’s Venezuela, and Iran. The President’s son-in-law “Democrat” Jared Kushner meddles and is subject to different rules. Secretary of Defense and bureaucratic infighter “Chaos” Mattis resists much of the President’s agenda. GOP heartthrob UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is tagged as “a free electron” operating independently of Secretary of States Tillerson and Pompeo.
While The Room Where It Happened is policy-and-process-focused, occasionally farce intrudes. The First Lady’s staff, apparently on their own prerogative, because of a personal spat, engineer the firing of Bolton’s lieutenant Mira Ricardel.
The President’s difficult to work for, erratic, lacks impulse control, and undercuts his subordinates. It’s not hard to understand why Bolton left. Still, I would sleep better at night if he were still NSA.
Top reviews from other countries
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Kindle CustomerReviewed in Brazil on October 1, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars livro
capa durs
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Bernd HutschenreutherReviewed in Germany on August 11, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Gut und verständlich geschrieben, von einem "Falken"
Das Buch war sehr interessant. Insbesondere zeigte es, dass es politisch noch Steigerungen gegenüber Trump gab. Das hätte ich so nicht erwartet. Soweit ich es verstehe, hätte der Autor wesentlich schärfer reagiert.
Ein Vorteil allerdings: Er ist wesentlich konsistenter und ändert nicht jeden Tag seine Meinung. Am Ende scheiterte er in der Trump-Administration.
Das Buch gibt einen guten Einblick in die Zeitgeschichte vom Standpunkt eines "Falken".
- enriqueReviewed in Mexico on July 20, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
The book is amazing and I received it before the scheduled time.
- RiverProReviewed in Canada on June 25, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read
This is an interesting and in-depth document about a short period of time in the Trump administration. Well written and well detailed. I was surprised how I used to think Bolton was a “bad” guy, a hawk and war monger but reading this book reminded me that the press and media are biased organizations as well and push their own agendas only. I’m now of the opinion that John Bolton is a sincere and dedicated person and surprisingly I probably agree with three-quarters of his positions. This book is not a put down of Trump, but it makes clear how difficult it is working with a self-centred and incompetent president. Well worth the time to read.
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Jean-paul MinyReviewed in France on November 21, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Témoignage de première main sur l'ère Trump a la Maison Blanche
Livre vraiment instructif sur l'ex président D.Trump, son dilettantisme, sa grossièreté naturelle, son manque de culture et son népotisme. Dommage que sa lecture attentive demande de consulter régulièrement Wikipedia et un dictionnaire de traduction, à moins de parfaitement connaître la plotique US. Destiné aux américains ce livre ne comporte donc aucun lexique. Mais cela en vaut la peine...