Alter Egos: Obama’s Legacy, Hillary’s Promise and the Struggle over American Power

What created the foreign policy that Trump will inherit - and what it means for the rest of us

A Financial Times book of the year

‘a first draft of the history of the Obama years’ Financial Times ‘full of compelling narrative and telling anecdotes’ Sunday Times ‘well-researched and engaging’ The Financial Times
‘outstanding’ Washington Post ‘one of the best reporters working in Washington today’ Jane Mayer ‘incredibly important. timely and deeply revelatory’ Kai Bird ‘vivid, page-turning’ Michael Beschloss

As Donald Trump becomes the new American president, we are on the point of a major debate about America’s role in the world.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were rivals who became partners for a time, trailblazers who shared a common sense of their historic destiny but different instincts about how to project power. While Obama and Hillary tussled over foreign policy questions, their relationship has created the context that Trump will inherit.

Mark Landler, White House correspondent for the New York Times, offers a deeply reported, first-hand account of the Obama administration and gives us a different way to think about the relationship between Obama and Hillary that shaped the US over the last eight years. With all the sweep of a grand history, enlivened by an insider’s access, dozens of interviews, and breaking news, ALTER EGOS is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand these two supremely ambitious figures, and the storm-tossed world of modern politics.