cover image All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way

All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way

Fred C. Trump III. Gallery, $30 (352p) ISBN 978-1-6680-7217-2

In this somber debut memoir, Trump, the nephew of former president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump, offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Trump family tree—and the cold machinations that left him and his sister Mary, author of Too Much and Never Enough, largely disinherited. Trump’s story is a far cry from the narrative often put forward by his famous uncle; the book is packed with juicy details of the family’s dysfunction, including the almost casual cruelty of his grandfather, and the struggles of his father, Fred Jr., who spurned the family business to become a pilot and succumbed to alcoholism at age 42. The most intense chapters deal with a financially floundering Donald Trump’s heartless scheme to cheat Trump and his sister out their father’s inheritance, sparking a brutal legal battle that saw the family cut off Trump’s health insurance shortly after the arrival of his third son, William, who was born with special needs and required significant (and expensive) medical care. Trump remains admirably forbearing, resisting insults and attacks, instead letting actions speak loudest in his workmanlike prose. It’s a vivid account of a famous family’s dynastic power plays and the collateral damage left in their wake. (July)