Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History

NBC News political journalist Katy Tur offers an entertaining personal account of the nearly two years she spent covering Donald Trump%E2%80%99s rise to the presidency, %E2%80%9Cthe most unlikely, exciting, ugly, trying, and all-around bizarre campaign in American history.%E2%80%9D Trump%E2%80%99s presidential run was a surreal experience for many Americans, but for Tur it was also life-changing: she was a relatively unknown London-based foreign correspondent enjoying quiet weekends in Paris and a self-described %E2%80%9Cpolitical novice" when she got the call to go on the road with Trump in the spring of 2015. %E2%80%9CSix weeks, tops,%E2%80%9D her bosses told her. Overnight, Tur%E2%80%99s life became a blur of planes, cars, buses, hotel rooms, dry shampoo, bad food, rowdy and often disturbing campaign rallies, and headline-grabbing tweet storms. Some 500 grueling days later, Trump was president%E2%80%94and Tur had emerged as a battle-tested fixture of the NBC News political team. She was a frequent target of Trump%E2%80%99s, who famously nicknamed her %E2%80%9CLittle Katy%E2%80%9D and whipped his crowds into such an antimedia frenzy that she occasionally required a security detail. While Tur recalls many of the campaign%E2%80%99s unusual moments (Trump defending his penis size in a presidential debate; his hawking of steaks and bottled water at a press conference; the Access Hollywood tape) Tur%E2%80%99s narrative is light on political analysis, and it mostly avoids the central question pundits will be exploring for years to come: how did Trump actually win? But Tur's brisk behind-the-scenes account humanizes the press corps, illuminates life on the campaign trail, and delivers on its promise: "I won%E2%80%99t pretend to explain it,%E2%80%9D Tur writes, but %E2%80%9CI will tell you what I saw.%E2%80%9D (Sept.)