A bestselling biographer of former President Ronald Reagan has struck a deal to work on a new book with former President Donald Trump’s team, the latest sign that interest in the 45th president remains high.
Washingtonian Craig Shirley, author of several bestselling Reagan biographies, told Secrets he has already started researching for his book due out after the fall election. It has a working title of Comeback, he told us Thursday.
Shirley described his project as a “corrective” book that will push through past biased reports on Trump to provide a clear picture of who the former president is, the movement he leads, and his comeback from the 2020 defeat to President Joe Biden.
“It fixes up the mistakes of the past,” Shirley said of past biographies from many anti-Trump authors. “This is gonna be contrarian. It’s going to go against everything the elites are preaching,” he added.
Shirley has not yet cut a deal with a publisher and expects to after the election. But considering the sustained popularity of and support behind Trump it should have a good market of bidders, an industry official said.
He described his plans for Comeback as a new book about unpopular Biden was withdrawn by mega publisher Simon & Schuster, which just published Shirley’s latest, The Search for Reagan.
Politico reported that Simon & Schuster canceled a contract with an Axios writer for a new Biden book due to reader lack of interest. In fact, several recent books about the Bidens have bombed, a highly unusual trend after decades of best-sellers on presidents still in office.
SEE THE LATEST POLITICAL NEWS AND BUZZ FROM WASHINGTON SECRETS
Shirley said he is not surprised that Biden’s unpopularity extends to disinterest in books about him and his family.
“That guy’s got no appeal whatsoever, except to his power base,” Shirley said.
