Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America

Sarah Kendzior

Apr 2020 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Sarah Kendzior

About this audiobook

New York Times bestselling author Sarah Kendzior documents the truth about the calculated rise to power of Donald Trump since the 1980s and how the erosion of our liberties made an American demagogue possible.

This program is read by the author.

The story of Donald Trump’s rise to power is the story of a buried American history – buried because people in power liked it that way. It was visible without being seen, influential without being named, ubiquitous without being overt.

Sarah Kendzior’s Hiding in Plain Sight pulls back the veil on a history spanning decades, a history of an American autocrat in the making. In doing so, she reveals the inherent fragility of American democracy – how our continual loss of freedom, the rise of consolidated corruption, and the secrets behind a burgeoning autocratic United States have been hiding in plain sight for decades.

In Kendzior’s signature and celebrated style, she expertly outlines Trump’s meteoric rise from the 1980s until today, interlinking key moments of his life with the degradation of the American political system and the continual erosion of our civil liberties by foreign powers. Kendzior also offers a never-before-seen look at her lifelong tendency to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – living in New York through 9/11 and in St. Louis during the Ferguson uprising, and researching media and authoritarianism when Trump emerged using the same tactics as the post-Soviet dictatorships she had long studied.

It is a terrible feeling to sense a threat coming, but it is worse when we let apathy, doubt, and fear prevent us from preparing ourselves. Hiding in Plain Sight confronts the injustice we have too long ignored because the truth is the only way forward.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

"Sarah Kendzior, in her brilliant new book, is one of the few journalists who grasps what is happening. Kendzior is a student of autocracy... she has been warning from the get-go that Trump is working to turn America into one." -David Cay Johnston, author of The Making of Donald Trump

Ratings and reviews

This is a must read book for everyone, regardless of political persuasion! Real investigative reporting right when we need it the most! It's an emotional rollercoaster of hard-hitting journalism, exposing the corruption of DJT, and his enablers. Buy and share this expose to help save democracy!

Gut-wrenching, emotive, compelling. This book does not pull any punches. This book will make you angry, but you need to read it. By one of the brilliant, prescient creators of the Gaslight Nation podcast.

A 21st century nonfiction horror story. Terrifying but riveting.

About the author

Sarah Kendzior is best known for her reporting on St. Louis, her coverage of the 2016 election, and her academic research on authoritarian states. She is currently an op-ed columnist for the Globe and Mail and she was named by Foreign Policy as one of the “100 people you should be following on Twitter to make sense of global events.” Her reporting has been featured in many publications, including Politico, Slate, The Atlantic, Fast Company, The Chicago Tribune, Teen Vogue, and The New York Times. Her first book The View from Flyover Country was a New York Times bestseller.