Russian roulette : the inside story of Putin's war on America and the election of Donald Trump / Michael Isikoff and David Corn.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The incredible, harrowing account of how American democracy was hacked by Moscow as part of a covert operation to influence the U.S. election and help Donald Trump gain the presidency.

" Russian Roulette is...the most thorough and riveting account." -- The New York Times

Russian Roulette is a story of political skullduggery unprecedented in American history. It weaves together tales of international intrigue, cyber espionage, and superpower rivalry. After U.S.-Russia relations soured, as Vladimir Putin moved to reassert Russian strength on the global stage, Moscow trained its best hackers and trolls on U.S. political targets and exploited WikiLeaks to disseminate information that could affect the 2016 election.

The Russians were wildly successful and the great break-in of 2016 was no "third-rate burglary." It was far more sophisticated and sinister -- a brazen act of political espionage designed to interfere with American democracy. At the end of the day, Trump, the candidate who pursued business deals in Russia, won. And millions of Americans were left wondering, what the hell happened? This story of high-tech spying and multiple political feuds is told against the backdrop of Trump's strange relationship with Putin and the curious ties between members of his inner circle -- including Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn -- and Russia.

Russian Roulette chronicles and explores this bizarre scandal, explains the stakes, and answers one of the biggest questions in American politics: How and why did a foreign government infiltrate the country's political process and gain influence in Washington?

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction: "It's a shakedown." (p. ix)
• 1 "Mr. Putin would like to meet Mr. Trump." (p. 1)
• 2 "We did not recognize the degree it would tick Putin off." (p. 19)
• 3 "Are we here because Clinton texted us?" (p. 35)
• 4 "You don't know me, but I'm working on a troll farm." (p. 48)
• 5 "This is the new version of Watergate." (p. 62)
• 6 "Felix Sater, boy, I have to even think about it." (p. 77)
• 7 "He's been a Russian stooge for fifteen years." (p. 93)
• 8 "How the fuck did he get on the list?" (p. 104)
• 9 "If it's what you say I love it." (p. 117)
• 10 "WikiLeaks has a very big year ahead." (p. 126)
• 11 "I have to report this to headquarters." (p. 139)
• 12 "As for the Ukraine amendment, excellent work." (p. 154)
• 13 "Next they're going to put polonium in my tea." (p. 168)
• 14 "We've been told to stand down." (p. 181)
• 15 "He's got me as the fall guy." (p. 197)
• 16 "Does it even matter who hacked this data?" (p. 212)
• 17 "It also could be somebody sitting on their bed who weighs four hundred pounds, OK?" (p. 221)
• 18 "Only Russia's senior-most officials could have authorized these activities." (p. 238)
• 19 "We've been ratfucked." (p. 249)
• 20 "This is the real reset of the Western world." (p. 260)
• 21 "We got a sinking feeling It looked like a season of Homeland" (p. 277)
• Afterword: "Please, my God, can't you stop this?" (p. 295)
• Acknowledgments (p. 307)
• Notes (p. 311)
• Index (p. 327)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Authors Isikoff and Corn are both known for their writing skills and investigative-reporting chops. So put them together, and you have a highly readable book that meticulously pieces together how Russia involved itself in the 2016 election, who the players were, and how successful their complex machinations turned out to be. The authors grab attention in the first chapter, which chronicles Donald Trump's trip to Russia in 2013 for the Miss Universe pageant. After that setup, the narrative fills in the background, and there's plenty, including Putin's dislike of and disdain for Hillary Clinton and the Trump family's business and social relationships with Russian oligarchs. Even though many of the facts and incidents discussed here have been well reported, especially to those who feverishly follow all things Trump, this book does an outstanding job of putting the Russia-Trump story into context, separating rumor from fact and adding new information. The way the text builds from the 2016 election to the present covering how those in the Obama administration and the intelligence services dealt with the interference issue (or, in some cases, didn't) makes for thought-provoking reading. A smart, solid, even-handed book that future historians will use as a starting point.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2018 Booklist