An illuminating journey through the Moscow hotel suites, New York City offices, and Washington courtrooms where the political fortunes of Trump have waxed and waned over the years.

In 2016, Donald Trump stunned the world by defeating Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election—what many Americans perceived as an unforeseeable upset. But thousands of miles away, Vladimir Putin celebrated a long-anticipated victory. Over a decade later, the signs of Russian interference in American politics have never been less subtle, the future of global democracy has never been more at risk, and the relationship between Trump and Putin has never been stronger.

Beginning in the earliest days of the Cold War and culminating in the second term of Trump’s presidency, acclaimed researcher and journalist Olga Lautman untangles the elaborate web of manipulation and disinformation that has brought the experiment of American democracy to the brink of collapse. In the process, she offers not only insight into the United States’ descent into oligarchy, but a thoughtful examination of our paths back to stable ground.