Book Publishers Scramble to Make Sense of Trump’s Rise to Victory

 

By ALEXANDRA ALTERNOV. 22, 2016 -The New York Times

• More   

Katy Tur of NBC News at a campaign rally for Donald Trump in Manchester, N.H., on Nov. 7. Her forthcoming book on Mr. Trump’s campaign and election is called “Unbelievable.” Credit Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

In the summer of 2015, Katy Tur, a London-based foreign correspondent for NBC News, got a surprising offer from the network’s head of news coverage. Would she like to cover Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign? He assured her that it would be a brief assignment — six weeks at the most.

It was one of many assumptions about Mr. Trump’s candidacy that proved to be wildly off-base. Ms. Tur was on the campaign trail for 18 months, living out of a suitcase and subsisting on hard-boiled eggs, packets of peanut butter and fistfuls of Cheez-Its. She became a frequent target of Mr. Trump on Twitter and during his rallies, where he accused her of dishonesty and called her a “third-rate reporter,” and she received death threats from his supporters. On election night, expecting to cover his defeat, she instead reported on his victory speech.

Ms. Tur will recount those experiences in a book, “Unbelievable,” which will also explore Mr. Trump’s unexpected rise through the Republican ranks and his ascension to the presidency.

MORE