About the Book

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Former Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper reveals the shocking details of his tumultuous tenure while serving in the Trump administration.

A graduate of West Point, Mark Esper has always lived by the principles of Duty, Honor, and Country. For eighteen months while he served as secretary of defense under President Donald Trump, those ideals were put to the test.

From June of 2019 until his firing by President Trump after the November 2020 election, Secretary Mark T. Esper led the Department of Defense through an unprecedented time in history. Esper takes readers behind the scenes during dramatic moments in the Trump administration involving several foreign nations and as he worked to shore up the United States’ shaky relationships with its allies—all while facing a global pandemic that threatened America’s military readiness, a nationwide unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd, and a White House determined to politicize the armed forces.

Unvarnished and extraordinary in its candor, A Sacred Oath is a memoir critical to understanding the Trump administration during this tumultuous period in American history.

Critical Praise

“A Sacred Oath pulls no punches. It depicts Trump as unfit for office and a threat to democracy, a prisoner of wrath, impulse and appetite. Over 752 pages, Esper’s Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times are surgically precise in their score-settling. This is not just another book to be tossed on the pyre of Trump-alumni revenge porn. It is scary and sobering.” — The Guardian

“Mr. Esper details the all-consuming task of managing America’s largest and most vital cabinet department—instructive reading for those unfamiliar with what operationalizing national security policy decisions involves. Time and again, he shows how presidential inattention, ignorance, incuriosity, duplicity and unwillingness to take responsibility for hard decisions all put the United States at risk…. A Sacred Oath is not a gratuitous tell-all. It is a work of history. Mr. Esper has his perspectives, to which he is entitled, but his willingness to go on the record at length is invaluable. Look forward to the reaction from Mar-a-Lago.” — Wall Street Journal

“A damning portrait of a chaotic, inept administration that posed countless dangers to the nation and the world.” — Kirkus Reviews

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Product Details

• ISBN: 9780063144330
• ISBN 10: 0063144336
• Imprint: William Morrow Paperbacks
• On Sale: 05/16/2023
• Trimsize: 5.310 in (w) x 8.000 in (h) x 1.180 in (d)
• Pages: 752
• List Price: $24.99
• BISAC1 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Military
• BISAC2 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Political
• BISAC3 : BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs