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Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man

Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man

by Mary L. Trump

Simon & Schuster ·2020 ·225 pages
Near the Top
Near the Top
I Index
56/99
Bottom of the Pile

15/99

Critics' Rating Index

Near the Top

56/99

Readers' Rating Index

Top of the Pile

96/99

Scholars' Citation Index

95/99

Volume of Reviews

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About This Book

In this revelatory, authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him, Mary L. Trump, a trained clinical psychologist and Donald's only niece, shines a bright light on the dark history of their family in order to explain how her uncle became the man who now threatens the world's health, economic security, and social fabric. Mary Trump spent much of her childhood in her grandparents' large, imposing house in the heart of Queens, where Donald and his four siblings grew up. She describes a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse. She explains how specific events and general family patterns created the damaged man who currently occupies the Oval Office, including the strange and harmful relationship between Fred Trump and his two oldest sons, Fred Jr. and Donald. A first-hand witness to countless holiday meals and family interactions, Mary brings an incisive wit and unexpected humor to sometimes grim, often confounding family events. She recounts in unsparing detail everything from her uncle Donald's place in the family spotlight and Ivana's penchant for re-gifting to her grandmother's frequent injuries and illnesses and the appalling way Donald, Fred Trump's favorite son, dismissed and derided him when he began to succumb to Alzheimer's. Numerous pundits, armchair psychologists, and journalists have sought to parse Donald J. Trump's lethal flaws. Mary L. Trump has the education, insight, and intimate familiarity needed to reveal what makes Donald, and the rest of her clan, tick. She alone can recount this fascinating, unnerving saga, not just because of her insider's perspective but also because she is the only Trump willing to tell the truth about one of the world's most powerful and dysfunctional families.


Reviews

"Dripping with snideness, vibrating with rage, and gleaming with clarity—a deeply satisfying read."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Many of Mary's speculations about motives and feelings become, in an instant, the basis of causal inferences ..."

Anne Diebel· New York Review of Books Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

"Mary Trump brings to this account the insider perspective of a family member, the observational and analytical abilities of a clinical psychologist and the writing talent of a former graduate student in comparative literature."

Carlos Lozada· The Washington Post Read review ↗ Near the Top

"There are no hidden grudges in this bleak book and there is no hidden agenda."

David Aaronovitch· The Times (UK) Read review ↗ Near the Top

"a ghastly tale laden with profound dynastic anguish: something like Succession crossed with Bleak House ..."

Josh Glancy· The Times (UK) Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

"That counts for something."

Alex Shephard· The New Republic Read review ↗ Maybe Someday

"One imagines that a number of the president's supporters may not even consider his upbringing to be that disturbing ..."

Jennifer Szalai· The New York Times Read review ↗ Near the Top

"that cripples a person emotionally and cognitively ..."

Virginia Heffernan· Los Angeles Times Read review ↗ Near the Top

"In her explosive portrait of the Trump family, Mary Trump, the president's only niece, traces Donald Trump's fear of persecution — along with what she terms his various other insecurities and pathologies such as narcissistic personality disorder — back to its source: his severely emotionally damaged parents ..."

Joshua Kendall· The Boston Globe Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Who among us could cope with an upbringing like that?"

Edward Luce· Financial Times Read review ↗ Near the Top

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