The Reckoning: America’s Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal

by Mary L. Trump

America is suffering from PTSD― The Reckoning diagnoses its core causes and helps us begin the healing process.For four years, Donald J. Trump inflicted an onslaught of overlapping and interconnected traumas upon the American people, targeting anyone he perceived as being an “other” or an enemy. Women were discounted and derided, the sick were dismissed as weak and unworthy of help, immigrants and minorities were demonized and discriminated against, and money was elevated above all else. In short, he transformed our country into a macro version of his malignantly dysfunctional family.How can we make sense of the degree to which our institutions and leaders have let us down? How can we negotiate a world in which all sense of safety and justice seems to have been destroyed? How can we―as individuals and as a nation―confront, process, and overcome this loss of trust and the ways we have been forever altered by chaos, division, and cruelty? And when the dust finally settles, how can we begin to heal, in the midst of ongoing health and economic crises and the greatest political divide since the Civil War?Mary L. Trump is uniquely positioned to answer these difficult questions. She holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology specializing in trauma, has herself been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and happens to be Donald J. Trump’s only niece. In The Reckoning , she applies her unique expertise to the task of helping us confront an all-encompassing trauma, one that has taken an immense toll on our nation’s health and well-being.A new leader alone cannot fix us. Donald J. Trump is only the latest symptom of a disease that has existed within the body politic since America’s inception―from the original sin of slavery through our unceasing, organized commitment to inequality. Our failure to acknowledge this, let alone root it out, has allowed it to metastasize. Now, we are confronted with the limits of our own agency on a daily basis. Whether it manifests itself in rising levels of rage and hatred, or hopelessness and apathy, the unspeakable stress of living in a country we no longer recognize has affected all of us for a long time, in ways we may not fully understand. An enormous amount of healing must be done to rebuild our lives, our faith in leadership, and our hope for this nation. It starts with The Reckoning .

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, Audiobook, Psychology, Sociology, Race

208 pages, Paperback

First published July 20, 2021

About the author

Mary L. Trump is the author of the international #1 bestseller Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man, the New York Times bestseller The Reckoning: Our Nation's Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal, and Who Could Ever Love You: A Memoir. She holds a PhD from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University. She writes the newsletter The Good in Us and is the host of The Mary Trump Show on YouTube.

Reviews

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Due to her status/burden as the niece of Donald Trump, the author had something to add to the assessment of Trump and his presidency. She did that in her prior book. However, her status and the huge sales of that book also got her a book contract for this second book. This book is a brief recap of the history of the United Sates, written by a non-historian. It is like a term paper, starting with Reconstruction, and touching on fascism, the mortgage loan crisis and institutional racism in its many forms. If you don’t already know about any of this, the book might enlighten you. The ultimate white privilege got this book published, but I don’t really care about the author’s views on racism in America or how to fix our democracy or even about how to deal with trauma (a topic that this psychologist should be able to address). The book isn’t awful, but all of this is handled so much better in other books.

[Betsy Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is something medicinal about hearing straight truth. With no affiliation to anything but the truth, clinical psychologist Mary L. Trump writes with muscular clarity, scholarship, and fury about anybody who acts in denial of the truth—from the beginnings of the practice of enslaving and torturing Black people to Obama and his justice department refusing to prosecute the architects of the Great Recession to the wanton cruelty and pathological lying of her uncle Donald to the January 6th insurrection to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris stating that this is not a racist country even though there is systemic racism. Even the Supreme Court and Jimmy Carter don’t get away without condemnation.

Mary Trump writes with the heat of a wildfire and truncates American history in a way that makes its carefully crafted hypocrisy even more shocking. There is not a lot of new material if you’ve been educating yourself with whole history (as opposed to filtered white history) and if you follow the news. That said, if you haven’t been reading book after book on racism, antiracism, and the history of racism, this is an excellent summation and exposure of the creation of ongoing systemic racism. But whatever your level of education, you will benefit from the passion of the writing steeped in scholarship and the laser focus that makes this book vibrate.

It is a book about the historical creation of our national trauma. Trauma comes not simply from the brutality and torture of slavery and genocide done with impunity that form the foundation of the U.S.A., but it comes from many “good” people looking the other way because the inconvenience of addressing and redressing the wrong was/is just too damned hard. It comes from denial and lies to justify the unjustifiable. It comes because people are reluctant to give up anything—money, power, complacency, peaceful co-existence with people who would be offended if they rocked the boat, “willful blindness. (115)” And all this was there long before it manifested Donald J. Trump.

The introduction to The Reckoning is one of the best book intros I’ve read. In it Mary Trump recounts her own history of PTSD and going into a full crisis that led to a stint in a rehab treatment facility after the election of her uncle. All that along with her grounded knowledge of psychology bring something unique to the book—well served by the fact that she is such a good writer.

This is not a “Trump book.” It is an us/U.S. book. It is a fearless demand that we Americans look at who we are, who we have been, how we birthed the current divisions and violence, and acknowledging the wrongs, atone and repair.

* * *

Years ago I wrote a proposal and chapters for a book that I never sold. It is a nonfiction, researched book about trauma, healing trauma, and learning to thrive. I realize that a lot of traumatized peoples’ problem is an inability to recognize that they are indeed traumatized—in the throes of a physiological response. In fact I would not be at all surprised if many people read Mary Trump’s book and don’t connect their upset to what she painstakingly describes as our national trauma.

Mary Trump’s book does not address any of this, but I’m so inspired by what she did write that I’ve made the beginning of my book that never sold into a 9,000-word Kindle ebook to help people recognize what may have been going on undiagnosed for their entire lives and, with the current cultural upset, may have been triggered into what seems like perpetual upset. You can get it here: Learning to Thrive: Begin by Recognizing Your Trauma, a Primer for 99 cents, the lowest sale price amazon allows.



Godspeed to all of us. Let us heal!

9/25/21 Update—Connecting the Dots

I’ve long since returned Mary Trump’s book to the library, but I’m still contemplating it, and it occurs to me that there is a missing piece between her book and the little ebook I offer to recognize trauma.

So I’d like to spell it out:

If you grow up in a family where abuse, violence, and/or denying the truth are normal, there is some point, early on, when you feel pain and confusion.

Some people respond to this discomfort by joining the charade and they perpetuate it, actually convinced that it is normal. And if challenged, their illusion of superiority or entitlement to behave as they do is challenged, and since this is their whole self-image, they will fight like hell to protect their right to be who they are.

Some people are devastated by the abuse, violence, and/or denial. Throughout their lives, when something happens to remind them of it, they have traumatic, dramatic responses that they may believe the circumstances merit, or if they sense there is something wrong, they don’t know what to do about it. They may go to talking therapy where they tell and retell their stories, but all this does is reinforce their belief in the truth of what happened and therefore the justification and inevitability of their responses. Nothing changes.

As a country, we have a well-documented history of abuse, violence, and denying the truth. Whether you have chosen to carry on this behavior, convinced that it is normal and justified, or whether you are frequently disabled by your dramatic responses to it, you are traumatized.

Both perpetrators and victims of abuse, violence, and denial are traumatized because they have been disconnected from their deepest truth that we are loving beings who all want to be respected and loved and valued.

Current culture has brought the whole history of abuse, violence, and denial into everyday life.

We are all traumatized.

[For an article about inherited trauma and healing and resilience--an actual positive use of trauma--see my interview with researcher psychiatrist Rachel Yehuda, PhD.]

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook… read by Mary Trump
….5 hours and 31 minutes

The content and title match:
“The Reckoning”…Our Nation’s Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal

“Even in isolation we are all witness to each other suffering”

For a relatively short book- 208 pages - and short Audiobook listening…
a lot of content is packed together like sardines:
….before the civil war
….after the civil war
….suffering in silence
…. American (shameful) history, democracy, politics, the constitution, government leadership, government atrocities, etc. “GOVERNMENT MATTERS”
….race: past, present, future
…. Genocide
…. Slavery
…. Horrific brutalities -whipping and beatings
…. Post traumatic slave syndrome
…. Illiteracy among blacks and how whites feared blacks educated, successful and in leadership powerful.
…. The effects of DNA trauma from generations to generations
…. Myth of white supremacy
….The Trump administration (more as an example to underline - explain - and understand NATIONAL TRAUMA)
….note: rich or poor - black or white -non of us escaped the trauma from covid.
…. Psychological, emotional, physical and spiritual affects of the trauma from covid - The economy, isolation, loss, death, anger, hopelessness, sadness, guilt, fears, resignation… the need for policy changes in education… each of us taking our responsibility to understand the challenges we face — come together to begin to heal our nation and ourselves.

This book felt ‘wow-ambitious’ at first….
Once I settled into it ….I was simply moved and thrilled that Mary Trump has taken her time to offer her expertise as a psychologist and an American who supports truth, and healing.

Part of the book was simply a validation!
It felt great to not feel crazy…for what I/we/all have just lived through these past two years ….
….Mary talked about our re-emerging into life after so much isolation: ( it was fascinating, validating, helpful)

….Mary examined things that we already ‘have’ learned but she underlines them BETTER!!

I fully applaud and ‘thank’ Mary Trump for this book.
I’m even a bigger fan of her now than her first book.

It was not only NOT a waste of my time — (wasn’t bored for a second) —but I’m hoping I’m a little bit better person for having listen to this audiobook!

[Susan Tunis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Mary Trump's first book because I was impressed with her insider knowledge and psychology credentials. I thought, THIS is a person qualified to talk about Donald Trump. Her slender follow-up is impressive for a whole slew of other reasons, and she's talking about a lot more than her uncle.

The reckoning of the book's title isn't that of Donald Trump. (Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.). It's a reckoning of this country with it's own racist past--baked in from the beginning--and present. And the deep damage this has done to people of all races and our society as a whole. To be clear, Ms. Trump isn't suggesting the harm to the white community is equal to that of the black community, just that it exists.

She starts with a brief overview of our history, from our founding, through the Civil War, Reformation, and straight through to the present day. From there, she tackles a wide array of both political and social subjects, moving from topic to topic gracefully. I wasn't taking notes as I listened to the audiobook, but the organization of subject matter felt organic and almost logical in it's elegance. Sometimes she delved into the Trump administration, but also those of Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama.

She acknowledged the privilege that her skin color (and mine) has granted us and our descendants and, again, looked at decades of history through the lens of inequality and institutional racism: redlining, the war on drugs, voter suppression, and so much more. It's actually pretty amazing how much she managed to cover in barely two hundred pages. And the point wasn't shaming (mostly). Look again to the title. This country is painfully overdue for a reckoning.

So, once, I was impressed by Mary Trump's access and insider knowledge. Now, I'm just impressed period. She's one of those truly intelligent people who also happens to be well educated. She writes effectively and eloquently. But more than anything, her thinking is clear and compassionate. She is on both the side of the angels, and the right side of history. And I will be reading her future books not because of who her uncle is, but because of who she is.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Trump’s new book, “The Reckoning” is less about her uncle and his misdeeds and more about how our nation suffered through his four year administration. She calls it a form of PTSD (and she has felt it herself). In fact the subtitle of the book gets right to the book’s point. It is “Our Nation’s Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal”.

Donald Trump and his administration have been examined by reporters, government officials, and others and all have contributed to the understanding of Trump. I’ve read many of them - can you think of a better way to spend a summer’s day? - and collected the facts. But Mary Trump, who tried to explain her uncle from a psychologist view, returns to help those traumatized by his four years in office. She also looks at our country’s history and pinpoint several times that have been just as bad.

But CAN we use the term traumatized to describe our country or are we all drama queens? Mary Trump thinks we can, and I agree. She suggests ways to recognize and identify the problems the Trump administration has left us. And perhaps work together to recover ourselves.

But don’t buy this book expecting the usual litany of Donald Trump’s sins and failures. Mary Trump has really written an American history.

[Laurel-Rain · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Reckoning will examine America’s national trauma, rooted in our history but dramatically exacerbated by the impact of current events and the Trump administration’s corrupt and immoral policies. Our failure to acknowledge this trauma, let alone root it out, has allowed it to metastasize. Whether it manifests itself in rising levels of rage and hatred, or hopelessness and apathy, the stress of living in a country we no longer recognize has affected all of us. America is suffering from PTSD—a new leader alone cannot fix us.

An enormous amount of healing must be done to rebuild our faith in leadership, and our hope for this nation. It starts with The Reckoning.

My Thoughts: As I delved into The Reckoning, I think I was expecting more about our personal experiences living under the rule of a fascist narcissistic president, someone who put all of us at risk and did nothing to mitigate the crises he created.

And there was some of that in this book. But it was also interesting to see the context that brought this country to where it is, beginning back at the very start of it all, with slavery and the cruelty enacted on black slaves. The act of “freeing the slaves” was only the beginning, after all. What reparations had there been?

I like this quote: “At almost every step of the way in our history, there were opportunities to make this country more democratic, more open, and more equitable. Instead, the North became more segregated and the South continued to be a closed fascist state. The political will to do the right thing was lacking, and one could argue that a scaffolding upon which a fully democratic society could be sustained had not yet been built.

“By the same token, between the 2020 election and the inauguration seventy-eight days later, the Republican Party and its leadership were presented with many off-ramps (as they had been as soon as Donald announced his candidacy in 2015) that would have prevented or at least mitigated the damage Donald, as lame duck, was able to cause…”

The failure to counter or condemn The Big Lie could have gone a long way toward repairing the damage. But that didn’t happen. And we are left with the PTSD of it all, as a country.

There was much to devour throughout this book in a small number of pages. It was meaty and presents many challenges to all of us. A 5 star read.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read and was fascinated and horrified by Mary Trump's previous book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man about her uncle Don the Con. I mention in that review that I had never intended to read it because I generally steer clear of "tell-all" style books. They just seem to me to be exploitive cash-grabs banking on scandals and controversy, and I have no interest in padding the pockets of those who enabled the bullshit and waited to "speak out" until they could profit from their "insider knowledge" book deals.

Hard pass.

Of course, that is not the type of book that Mary Trump wrote, and once I realized that she wasn't of the same Trumpy mold, I was completely down to read her perspective.

But I will admit that I wasn't really all that sure about reading THIS book. I assumed (incorrectly) that it would be all about Trump and the harm he's done and the need to keep him out of office again in order to heal... but again I misjudged her. Well, partially. It IS partly that, but it is actually much more than that also.

This book deals with a lot of skeletons in the American closet. Chief among them being white supremacy, and all of the insidious ways that that mindset worms its shitty little fingers into policy and, law, and precedent. Much of the country is steadfastly ignoring the skeletons, gaslighting those who are trying to speak up about them that the bone fragments, pictures, and rattling bones and toes sticking out from under the closet door aren't really anything at all, and even if it WAS, it's already dead, so what's the problem - just get over it.

And that's the crux of this book. One cannot "get over" something that is never acknowledge or accounted for, never remedied, never addressed, and which continues to be hidden but ever-present to this day.

Or, as Malcolm X said:


They won't even admit the knife is there.

I was pleasantly surprised about the breadth of content in this book. I honestly had thought it would focus primarily on more recent harms and failures by dum dum Donnie's ineptitude and his enablers, but I shouldn't be surprised. She's a smart woman who understands that there's been a long process to get us to here. I do wish that the book had been a little longer, and that some of the things she mentions were more deeply examined... but I also think that she makes her point quite effectively.

To sum up... read this book. It's important, it's timely, and it's valid.

And I'll just end with this: Mary L. Trump is the only Trump worth the oxygen they consume.

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yes, Mary Trump's voice and story were incredibly important last year, but frankly, I don't know what the point of this book was. It touches on a broad assortment of issues that are currently plaguing our country, but because of its short length and wide scope, it feels like a half-hearted distillation of almost every current events book published in recent years. There isn't much meat to it - it just rehashes the ideas other writers and thinkers have expounded on in greater depth. The fact that her list of acknowledgements goes on for almost ten minutes and includes many of those very same preeminent scholars tells you something. I guess the subject matter could be eye-opening to someone who hasn't been exposed to those other works, but really, you'd get a lot more out of going to the main source. I'm not sure what she felt she would be contributing to the national discourse with this one.

[Sandra Hardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book from Ms. Trump and a short one at that. You can expect to read it in an afternoon. Her focus is the impact of racism and slavery on what she perceives as our fragile democracy. White supremacy has a long history and Donald, as she refers to her uncle, tapped into it and gave it a voice. The failure of our leaders to take him down is responsible for our current crisis. An interesting exposition worth a read. Lots of historical material to dig into.

[gglinds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Required Reading for ALL Americans

I started reading this book and immediately became enthralled.

Within a few minutes I was sobbing. I read and then had to digest one of the most horrific accounts of cruelty I have ever read in my entire life. It broke my heart. Three days past before I could pick up the book again.

On the third day I finished reading the book. It has been one of the most educational, eye opening, jaw dropping books that I have ever read.

Mary has done extensive research about America's TRUE history.

Read it.....it will make you a better person and a better American.

We have huge challenges ahead of us. My blinders have been removed and I now understand a great deal more about America's past and how things could have been different for so many people if those in power hadn't been ....afraid, afraid of losing that power.

[Sandra Armor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really extraordinary. I learned a tremendous amount and I’m left with a lot to consider. Mary does an excellent job with the narration.

[Patricia Friedberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

All that should have been said had not even been uttered until the publication of The Reckoning. Mary Trump has written a revealing, sensitive
and, at times uncomfortable account of who too many Americans really are and why her Uncle Donald has managed to attract the power hungry, the racists and the ‘don’t meddle with my first amendment rights’ followers.
We maybe traumatised by Covid 19 but the truth of the matter is Whites are experiencing what they have been guilty of since first stepping on land that wasn’t theirs when they began traumatising Native Americans, then Blacks, and all whose appearance differed to their own. The Trump family she was unfortunately born into has taken advantage of everything she writes about and will continue to do so until they, and self serving Republicans are voted out. If you squirm whilst reading The Reckoning you have got the message she intended to send.

[Ian "Marvin" Graye · Rating 4 out of 5]

CRITIQUE:

A Prefatory Note on Nomenclature

I love the fact that Mary can legitimately call her uncle "Donald" (rather than Trump or President Trump), thus implicitly denying him the dignity and privilege of his former office.

I await the moment when she (or some other relative, an aunt, perhaps, if any is still alive) says, "He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy."

A Well-Constructed Narrative

In Mary Trump's first book, "Too Much and Never Enough", she wrote within her areas of direct knowledge and professional expertise: her family and psychology.

In this, her second book, she broadened her scope and -

"read widely and deeply in order to steep myself in scholarship that provided as many perspectives as possible across many topics, including the history of Reconstruction, the Jim Crow South, the North's history of oppression and segregation, epigenetics, critical race theory, Calvinism, white supremacy, fascism, the scope of justice, the relevance of all of these to the current political moment, and many others."

She continues:

"...The insights, knowledge, and perspective I gained from them proved invaluable in helping me make sense of the sweep and scope of our history in a way I previously had not, as well as construct my own narrative."

There's no doubt that the resulting book is both informative and persuasive, especially if you hold similar political and cultural views.

"Finding a Way to Heal"

Mary's perception of the trauma is mainly concerned with slavery and its impact on race relations. You could argue that this is only one of many problems that result (or have resulted) in cultural, social and political trauma.

However, what is largely missing from the book is what is the implicit promise of the second part of her subtitle, in which she anticipates "finding a way to heal...America's trauma".

Her prescription is little more than that "the first step in healing is facing the truth and feeling the pain (p 178):"

"It's time for us to put our bodies on the line, it's time for us to listen. It's time for us to kneel."

Until its conclusion, the book was an exercise in truth-telling, if not necessarily commiseration and empathy.

While this might be a necessary first step towards or pre-condition of a solution, it's clearly not enough.

A Quarter Acre and a School

The racial divide in America is not just a cultural one, it's an economic one. No nation (or socio-political system) should tolerate significant numbers of "working poor", unemployed or under-educated, especially if they come disproportionately from one race or section of society.

The time has passed when freed slaves were entitled to forty acres and a mule.

I wonder whether it's time to recognise that they (or their descendants) deserve at least a quarter acre and a school.

This is not to forget the need for a minimum wage or a fair/living wage.



SOUNDTRACK:

He's Not the Messiah, He's a Very Naughty Boy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plZRe...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3qI_...

"...Now go away!"

[Fred Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Mary Trump's first book, which was one that only she could have written, as a member of the Trump family who was privy to its horrible practices and those of her uncle, who, to her horror, became our president.

This book is much different. Mary Trump was not the only one who could have written it. It's not a personal memoir with information about the Trump family that only she could have known. Nonetheless, it's well-researched and well-written so she must be given credit for that.

She has a lot to say about what is wrong with our country and our politics. It mostly focuses on racial issues with which this country has never come to terms. I am sympathetic to her liberal views, although I don't necessarily agree with everything she says. I am in total agreement that we should not whitewash our history. There is more to be gained from looking at all of our history, no matter how upset it may make us.

This is a good eye-opener of a book, and it's short enough that there's no reason for anyone to skip it.

[Kathleen Flynn]

I found Mary Trump's earlier book, her account of growing up in the Trump family, both insightful and well-written, so I was eager to read this one.

I don't fault anything she says here, and I found her ardent sincerity admirable rather than annoying, yet I did find myself wondering who the intended audience for this book was. I fear it will not change the mind of anyone who did not already agree with her about things like the central and often overlooked role of white supremacy in U.S. history. It does not try very hard to do so, merely takes these facts as given (which they are, to be sure).

But for those who do agree with her, there is not so much new here. It almost reads like a conversation she is having with herself, thinking things through as you might in a diary. In that case, maybe you want more personal stuff. I also found I was wishing for more insight into the psychological aspects of this moment, and what the pandemic has done to us all. But that is hard to do in a book, which by nature has a long-ish lead time; history is moving too fast right now for anyone to grab onto it. And maybe that is the problem here: not Mary Trump as the author, but the volatile times she -- along with all of us -- is living through.

[Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was such a disappointment. I understand that the author has a Ph.D in psychology, and is well versed on the subject of trauma. But I found it ludicrous that a privileged white woman was lecturing us on white supremacy, the history of Blacks and Native Americans and our many failures as a nation. The book tries to be scholarly, but it instead a snooze fest. The only areas where she has a hint of credibility is when she is discussing her uncle, DJT. If I want to learn about racial inequality in the US, I’ll stick to authors like Isabel Wilkerson. She has experienced the problem and also writes so much better than this author.

I would have found this book much more interesting if she had concentrated on the trauma that we all experienced on January 6, 2021 and her uncle’s role in it. After all, it’s because of her first book about her uncle that she got a contract to write this one. Girl, stick to what you know. And BTW, $28.99 for a scant 178 pages is obscene. I thank my local library for giving me access to books that I would never pay for.

This book is a definite don’t bother.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reckoning: (noun) 1) :the act or an instance of reckoning: such as a) :account, bill b) :computation c) :calculation of a ship’s position 2) :a settling of accounts 3) :a summing up —-Merriam-Webster Dictionary

In her first book “Too Much and Never Enough”, Mary L. Trump, Ph.D. wrote the only true and worthwhile expose on Donald Trump worth reading. Much of this was due to the fact that she is a relative of Donald’s, one who has seen him behind closed doors and without cameras on him 24-7.

No one else can call him “Uncle Donald”. No one else has ever come as close as she has ever been to the real Donald. This is why her book never came across as a blatant hit-piece. Indeed, in some parts, Mary seemed genuinely mournful about Donald’s horrible upbringing and the emotional abuse he suffered under his parents, Mary’s grandparents.

Her examination of her uncle’s damaged psyche never comes across as being solely motivated by hatred or vindictiveness. (Well, not totally anyway. She does have a lawsuit still pending against him and the rest of Trump’s family for millions that she claims were taken from her after her father’s death. A little vindictiveness probably wouldn’t be too surprising.) On the contrary, she laments the relationship (strained, dysfunctional, and toxic as it is) between herself and her uncle and wishes it had been better.

Mary’s new book “The Reckoning” is surprising in its straightforwardness and levelheadedness. Yes, there is an edge to it. Mary occasionally lets slip an outrage that I think most Americans can relate to in regards to her uncle’s catastrophic presidency. Still, for the most part, it’s well-reasoned and balanced.

It’s short, too. At only 178 pages, Mary articulates one of the simplest and most logical arguments for Reparations for black Americans I have ever read.

What’s her argument? It’s nicely summed up in the William Faulkner quote: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

In a nutshell: the entire United States is currently suffering from a collective Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after four years of Trump, culminating in a global pandemic and the first armed insurrection of the Capitol Building since the War of 1812.

But, she adds, our history of traumatizing events extends as far back as the early colonial era, where a campaign of genocide against Native Americans became domestic policy and the horrifying practice of slavery continued under the presidencies of numerous Founding Fathers until the Civil War, which, unfortunately, was not the end of racism in this country. Racists just learned how to find loopholes in a flawed system.

As for lack of accountability in our leaders: Trump certainly wasn’t the first president to get a free pass for atrocious behavior and actions that would get you or me arrested. Having political power in this country means never having to say you’re sorry, literally. And it’s been that way since Day One. The history of the United States is a history of no accountability.

The main take-away from this book is that the U.S. is still a racist country. Donald didn’t re-invent racism, but his blatant racist and white nationalist statements and policies certainly helped to re-ignite a conflagration that was never really extinguished in the first place.

She writes, “If we’re told that we need to “speak truth” only about the past, it implies we can be complacent about the present. When our leaders tell us that America is not a racist country, whether the motive is malicious or well-intentioned, the wrong people are emboldened and the rest of us are demoralized. Making that claim puts a wrench in the wheels of progress, to the extent they were even turning. It gives the side that is comfortable with the stars quo permission not to do the very hard work of self-reflection, while the rest of us wonder what the hell it will take to gain enough momentum for real change to happen. If we can acknowledge there is systemic racism, then by what logic can we posit that the country governed by that system is somehow free of its racism? And if America isn’t a racist country, then what does that word even mean? (p. 171)”

[Coreen Marroquin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkable

Mary Trump is a brave, intelligent, and compassionate woman, and a very good writer. It's almost impossible to believe she is related to Donald and the rest of that repulsive family of trolls. In any event, her book is a scathing indictment of white supremacy and all those who subscribe to that loathsome belief system, in particular the current members of the disgraceful Republican party. They are no longer members of a democracy, but repugnant fascists -- and have been for many, many years. It's just that Trump allowed them to remove their masks to reveal the monsters beneath. They lie and cheat and deceive in order to steal power and money from their ignorant supporters. It's infuriating, disgusting, and demoralizing. Mary explains in plain language how as good as America is, it has a lot to repent and repair to become the truly great country it can be. It was founded on the destruction -- nearly the annihilation -- of the native people who originally inhabited these lands, stealing the land and then prospering on the blood and labor of generations of Africans kidnapped and brought to America to live and labor under the oppressive heels of white men, enslaved and regarded as less than human for hundreds of years. The hypocrisy of the Puritans coming here to live and worship free, but denying that freedom to others is still being perpetuated to this very day. An excellent book that should be required reading as a CliffsNotes primer on the true history of the occupation, founding, and governing of our country -- as has been said, "The truth shall set you free."

[TraceyL · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-written book which attempts to explain why America is as divided as it is. There's no new information here, but it's part of a larger conversation about racism and politics, and I think she draws some good conclusions. It didn't blow me away or anything.

[Maria E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book by Mary Trump needs to be compulsory reading in every 9th grade class in America.

I can only congratulate the author for writing a book stating the facts of Amrica's disregarded, and largely unknown black history, in context with our white supremacist reality. The myth of Amrica is sadly very real; just ask my mother, who dreamed of America, and did everything in her power to have our family finally immigrate. For myself, so much of the myth was destroyed in my first year here, with a frightening confrontation in the deep south of armed white men shouting horrendous epithets. What had I done? I drank water from a 'black only water fountain! It brought the Amrica of myth crashing into the the reality of Amrica into stark relief in the space of a few minutes. I bless Mary Trump for a book backed by facts, and only facts. It is way past time. I reccomend this book to every single person.

[Budd Margolis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Trump explains the issue of racism in America, the attack against democracy and the rights embracing of fascism, and what we can do to understand and reach solutions to take this nation to its potential. She writes about why Donald won in 2016 and the damage he has caused. The book carefully explains the destruction of our democracy, the threat to the nation and the systemic racism that has always existed throughout American history from Pilgrims the land grabbers, inequality of housing loans and GI bill, education as well as healthcare and racists justice issues.

There are many books on racism in America, but Mary provides insight and examples of what, how and why what happened to America's democracy and how this could possibly and did actually happen. From Protestant and Evangelical, Calvinists, KKK/Nazi, anti-vaxxers/anti-mask, white privilege and the "election steal" tactics of her Uncle. The system of our Government, electoral votes, 2 senators per state, fillibusters are all tactics for the Republican's ability to hold on to power while they are pursuing voter suppression and gerrymandering.

Mary Trump explains historic massacres against blacks that were left out of US History courses. Her book should be mandatory reading for all Americans but especially students. She also explains how blacks in America suffer from PTSD because of the legal and societal systems that work against them and penalize Blacks harsher and worse than whites.

From Black Lives Matter to why restitution should be implemented, Mary Trump takes us through an intelligent discussion of how to return American democracy to greatness and make America really better and fit for the future. She dismantles white supremacy and the many lies about race and history.

The Reckoning takes the next logical step of healing for America after the devastation her Uncle Donald caused. We can recover and strive towards a better and more fair nation and this book properly starts the debate with background and topics we need to know about and debate.

Read this book!!

[Charles Oberonn · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book started very promising, with historical data used to explain the point. But around halfway through the author made a sharp turn towards aspousing vague racial points with no substantiation of her claims. The most agrigious of which is "It's nearly impossible to grow up white in America and not be racist."

The hyper-focus on a specific issue, and the use not of historical data but modern talking point to elaborate on it, tell me that this book should've been written by a trained historian rather than an otherwise unqualified person.

The issue of Latinos and immigration, for example, is barely touched, even though they make up a bigger percentage of the US population that black people.

In addition, the book is badly in need of editing. It jumps all over the place from topic to topic and between time periods.

[meghann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading this and it did not disappoint. It was interesting to look at the psychology of trauma in our country from our most recent history and back to slavery and the founding of our country. The history included in this is infuriating and heartbreaking, and I wish we were taught the full truth of it in our history classes in school. It makes me wonder how things would be different if we stopped pushing the whitewashed version of events. I do agree that we have the opportunity to build our country back into something better. I just don't have faith anymore in people doing the right thing.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an excellent primer on what's happened this past year. There are big questions and concerns outlined in moving forward. Mary Trump (who narrates the audiobook) does a fine job of exploring past and present, showcasing how the US has encountered widespread trauma before and has managed to navigate a path forward. Mary also acknowledges that this time is a bit unique, especially with the social media aspect. It's a brisk and informative read/listen and I encourage you to give this a chance. Just know that this is only a starting point.

[mary barber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truth is hard to read

I absolutely recommend this book to every American! It lays bare our current beliefs and our sorrowful history that created them. Mary Trump has a very unique view and isn't afraid to share. Her insights are invaluable and full of hard truths. Ugly Americans are everywhere and none of us are innocent.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice essay on where our country is today and where she hopes it will go.

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary L. Trump’s The Reckoning is a tough book to review (and quite frankly to read as well.) Despite being relatively short, its filled with enough hard hitting and at times brutal truths that the emotional impact feels like a much longer book.

I actually didn’t realize that a significant portion of the book would be about the often denied and excused thread of white supremacy that in woven into America’s history (and many colonized nations) however it all makes sense in a common theme of a traumatized nation.

It’s a little ironic and a bit of a confession from me, that I have been simultaneously reading ‘The Black AntiFascist Tradition’ which is a much more in depth on the topic but I’ve been struggling with the topic and ‘Reckoning’ has given me a better context to understand it (what I’m confessing is my trope of pakeha/white guy needing racism explained by a white author)

Back to The Reckoning a powerful argument is made that in fact throughout America’s history presidents and other powerful people have perpetuated a system of no-accountability – even overall relatively respected and effective politicians have contributed to this. Another core thread which is often overlooked when discussing racism is money. We have a tendency to talk about Racism as a psychological trait that simply has to be educated or instructed out of people – but as other experts have pointed out (read: It’s about Wealth not Race) there is 9/10 financial incentive for systemic racism.

The story caps off with the impacts of Covid-19 and I don’t think I’ve read anywhere yet such a compassionate and interesting assessment of how the pandemic has impacted people. I think a common story I’ve heard is this strange sense of ‘nothing-to-see-here’ following (or rather following the major interventions for) Covid-19. Politicians seemed to forgo their obligations to actually behave as leaders and just moved on from the issue like it was old-news. Mary L. Trump accurately points out how this shared, but divisive, trauma, has impacted us and likely continue to do so in the future.

This is a paragraph that is probably going to happen in all political books I review right now, but this book is of course written prior to Trump’s second presidential win and its disturbing and weird to read books about how bad things have been (not just in the States but worldwide) and know that things have taken a turn for the worse and likely to be worsening, Optimism might have to take a wee nap while Grit takes the wheel.

The Reckoning raises a massive and challenging question about how to bring people together when it seems like an impossible task – Mary L. Trump has powerful words about how its better to BE guilty than deny the cause of guilt, but I feel this is a going to be a continual theme in my reviews of trying to suss how to bring people together, even when the barriers seem insurmountable.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world might have expected Mary Trump to capitalize on the success of Too Much and Not Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by writing a sequel. She didn’t, and the world is glad that, instead, she has written a remarkable book that will force America and Americans to confront the extraordinarily divided country in which we live. History reveals that the division in the previous decades was based mostly on race, or, in its simplest terms, Black and white (Ms. Trump capitalizes Black throughout).

But Ms. Trump favors the word “trauma” over the more euphemistic “division.” She loses no time in succinctly explaining it all: “This country was born in trauma—trauma inflicted on the native inhabitants of a land from which they were forcibly removed, trauma sustained by generations that have succeeded the kidnapped and enslaved Africans who’d been brought to a continent both foreign and hostile, the trauma of those bystanders who failed to intervene when they could, those who could not intervene at all, and even those who committed the atrocities and continued to perpetuate a system that benefited them at the devastating expense of so many others.”

That Mary Trump is ideally positioned and qualified to talk about trauma goes without saying: apart from her PhD in clinical psychology specializing in trauma, she herself suffered and underwent treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) brought on, she believes, by her Uncle Donald Trump’s election to be president of the United States. The Reckoning: Our Nation’s Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal is both history lesson and cautionary tale (it might also be personal catharsis, a way for Ms. Trump herself to better understand, clarify, and make sense of America’s various crises). She dissects and then brutally lays bare America’s guilt for the crime of slavery, and describes the parallel account of a country’s fascination with a belief in inherent white supremacy.

However bad things were before, four years of Trump presidency appeared to make things worse, although the most disturbing but intellectually interesting fact was that 74 million people wanted four more years of the same! Mary Trump does not come across as optimistic about how the country might heal from all the trauma, which can only happen if we don’t just call ourselves a democracy, but practice it sincerely and relentlessly.

“Until the playing field is leveled,” says Ms. Trump, “America is not a democracy. Until everybody eligible is allowed to vote unimpeded, America is not a democracy. As long as a majority of the majority doesn’t have a problem with the deliberate economic plunder and disenfranchisement of large swaths of the population, and as long as the rest of us ignore it—because to pay attention would be to challenge our privilege—nothing will change.”

Ms. Trump is a fabulous writer, and The Reckoning moves along at a brisk pace despite weighty truths in almost every line. She declares that “the first step in healing is facing the truth and feeling the pain.” For readers, both the bold and the tremulous, ready to take that first step, this book will fuel a bias for action.

[Judie · Rating 5 out of 5]

In order to resolve problems, the first step is to recognize that they exist.
The US has a history ignoring, glossing over, or denying events that don’t fit with the image we want to project.
In THE RECKONING, Mary L. Trump focuses on how politicians and the general public have done so in the past and how it affects us today. Genocide and slavery against Native Americans and African slaves still have effects on their descendants.
Racism and misogyny permeate our education system. “We separate Black American and women’s literature and history as if Black Americans and women were not only outside the making of America but less important to it, a specialized subset of interest only to groups outside the majority.”
Current attempts to correct that problem, especially as it deals with Black American through things like the 1619 Project have been met with strong opposition from people and groups wanting to preserve the idealized historic status quo. “But American ingenuity is never more ingenious than when [finding] new ways to promote white supremacy.”
Confederate flag and statues of Civil War Confederate leaders were placed in many Southern locations in an attempt to end Reconstruction in the late 1800s. It is only today that these items honoring traitors to the US are being addressed and removed.
The four years of the Trump Administration encouraged his supporters to become more vocal and active, further widening the division in our country. While the problem didn’t start with his administration, it encouraged those who agreed with him or feared him, including Republican office holders, to support and act in ways that have hurt all of us and now threaten the survival of our democracy.
THE RECKONING is a good place to start the healing process.

[Eileen E Walborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

As eye opening as her first book

Mary takes the stance that what Donald did and continues to do today about 'the big steal' is just what one can expect from a bully. She never called him President, just Donald. Made me smile. However, her exposition of the good ol' boy network down South and the WASP thing up North as being ways to prop them up and keep the Blacks, Browns, Reds and don't forget the yellow horror of China because they ALL 'want to steal our women folk' makes me afraid for us all. Nothing has really changed just the white boy's fear, no the realization that he IS outnumbered and will always be. Having read the novels and the history of every immigration , I feel that maybe my granddaughter might see or help the changes happen. She's English Scotch-Irish French Dutch German, Irish, Cuban and Guatemalan, a true American!!