A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times

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.

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—a period marked by growing threats and conflict abroad, a global pandemic unseen in a century, the greatest domestic unrest in two generations, and a White House seemingly bent on breaking accepted norms and conventions for political advantage. A Sacred Oath is Secretary Esper’s unvarnished and candid memoir of those extraordinary and dangerous times, and includes events and moments never before told.

This unvarnished White House memoir takes you inside the rooms where history was made:

• A Sacred Oath: Esper’s account of his ultimate responsibility to the Constitution, not the President, and the moments he had to choose between them.
• Civil-Military Relations: An inside look at the struggle to keep the U.S. military apolitical in the face of a chaotic White House and unprecedented domestic unrest.
• Behind the Scenes of the Trump Administration: The shocking, never-before-told details of what was said and decided during some of the most consequential moments of the Trump presidency, including the response to the George Floyd protests.
• Navigating National Security Crises: A candid look at how the Pentagon managed growing threats from China, a near-war with Iran, and a volatile North Korea.

“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