Mark Leibovich Books

The "New York Times Magazine" chief national correspondent and lifelong Patriots fan presents a scathing analysis of professional football in the present climate of high success, dangerous injuries, and scandal

Featuring a series of award-winning profiles, this collection delves into the lives of intriguing figures across politics, sports, and pop culture. The author, known for their bestselling work, offers finely detailed insights that illuminate the complexities and nuances of these personalities, making it a captivating read for anyone interested in contemporary cultural influences.

"From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller This Town, the eyewitness account of how the GOP collaborated with Donald Trump to transform Washington's "swamp" into a gold-plated hot tub--and a onetime party of rugged individualists into a sycophantic personality cult"-- Provided by publisher

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Town, an equally merciless probing of America's biggest cultural force, pro football, at a moment of peak success and high anxiety Like millions of Americans, Mark Leibovich has spent more of his life tuned into pro football than he'd care to admit. Being a lifelong New England Patriots fan meant growing up on a steady diet of lovable loserdom. That is, until the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era made the Pats the most ruthlessly efficient and polarizing sports dynasty of the modern NFL, and its fans the most irritating in all of Pigskin America. Leibovich kept his obsession quiet, making a nice career for himself covering that other playground for rich and overgrown children, American politics. Still, every now and then Leibovich would reach out to Tom Brady to gauge his willingness to subject himself to a profile. He figured that the chances of Brady agreeing were a Hail Mary at best, but Brady returned Mark's call in summer 2014 and kept on returning his calls through epic Patriots Super Bowl victory and defeat, and a scandal involving Brady--Deflategate--whose grip on sports media was as profound as its true significance was ridiculous. So began a four-year odyssey that took Mark Leibovich deeper inside the NFL than anyone has gone before. From the owners' meeting to the draft to the sidelines of crucial games, he takes in the show at the elbow of everyone from Brady to big-name owners to the cordially despised NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell. Ultimately, BIG GAME is a chronicle of peak football--the high point of the sport's economic success and cultural dominance, but also the time when the dark side began to show. It is an era of explosive revenue growth, but also one of creeping existential fear. Players have long joked that NFL stands for not for long, but as the true impact of concussions becomes inescapable background noise, it's increasingly difficult to enjoy the simple glory of football without the buzz-kill of its obvious consequences. And that was before Donald Trump. In 2016, Mark's day job caught up with him, and the NFL slammed headlong into America's culture wars. BIG GAME is a journey through an epic storm. Through it all, Leibovich always keeps one eye on Tom Brady and his beloved Patriots, through to the 2018 Super Bowl. Pro football, this hilarious and enthralling book proves, may not be the sport America needs, but it is most definitely the sport we deserve.

Hailed as vastly entertaining and deeply troubling (The New York Times Book Review), as insidery as Game Change (The Washington Post), and a hysterically funny portrait of the capital's vanities and ambitions (The New Yorker), This Town captured America's attention as the political book of 2013. With a new Afterword by author Mark Leibovich, the book that is changing the national conversation about Washington is available in a stunning new edition. Washington, D.C., might be loathed from every corner of the nation, yet these are fun and busy days at this nexus of big politics, big money, big media, and big vanity. There are no Democrats and Republicans anymore in the nation's capital, just millionaires. In This Town, Mark Leibovich, chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine, presents a blistering, stunning --and often hysterically funny-- examination of our ruling class's incestuous media industrial complex. Through his eyes, we discover how the funeral for a beloved newsman becomes the social event of the year. How political reporters are fetishized for their ability to get their names into the predawn e-mail sent out by the city's most powerful and puzzled-over journalist. How a disgraced Hill aide can overcome ignominy and maybe emerge with a more potent brand than many elected members of Congress. And how an administration bent on changing Washington can be sucked into the ways of This Town with the same ease with which Tea Party insurgents can, once elected, settle into it like a warm bath. Outrageous, fascinating, and very necessary, This Town is a must- read, whether you're inside the Beltway--or just trying to get there.

"A collection of political profiles and other reportage by Mark Leibovich, the author of This Town"--

"A book about contemporary political culture in Washington, DC"-- Washington funerals can make great networking opportunities. Disgraced Hill aides can overcome ignominy and emerge with a more potent "brand" than many elected members of Congress. There are no Democrats and Republicans anymore in the nation's capital, just millionaires. That is the grubby secret of the place in the twenty-first century: no matter how many elections you lose, apologies you make, or scandals you endure, Washington is the nexus of big politics, big money, big media, and big vanity.