Choice Review

Kennedy (Univ. College Dublin, Ireland), author of several books on US politics and American culture, has compiled this edited volume on Donald Trump's presidency, which analyzes shifting American political culture, national identity, and the place of the US in the international political order. Fifteen authors, most of whom are university professors from Europe, the US, and the Middle East, discuss different elements of Trump's presidency. Without providing a definitive answer, the collection asks whether this presidency represents a continuation of the traditional Republican Party agenda (and if it does, to what extent) or a rupture with established bipartisan political norms in Washington. The book is organized into three parts. The first includes essays discussing paradigmatic shift, a radical disruption of fundamental, naturalized beliefs and values about the US political process and American national identity. The second part focuses on US foreign policy, illuminating links between domestic ideology and foreign behavior and the current emphasis on the zero-sum game in international politics. The third part addresses the issue of post-truth politics and suggests that Americans have lost their belief in a shared referential world. Written in accessible language throughout. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. --Simeon Mitropolitski, University of Ottawa