Washington Is Burning
Corruption and Lies in the Age of Trump
Published on 17. March 2026
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-83674-177-0 (ISBN)
Description
Washington Is Burning reveals the inner workings of Trump's Washington - a grotesque carnival of corruption. Andrew Cockburn sets fire to US pieties, focusing on the spectacular greed at the heart of the nation's political system.
Graft and self-interest have long typified both Democratic and Republican administrations. Cockburn charts the connections between the American military bureaucracy and the defense industry, which have created a senseless drive for ever-greater spending on arms. After the failed adventures of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Pentagon now seeks fresh rewards through inflating the threat from China and Iran, deploying time-tested techniques to boost the budget, including the invocation of supposedly superior enemy weapons development.
The American empire has reached a watershed. With Trump back in the White House, Washington Is Burning is a must-read account of unedifying practices in the US capital.
Graft and self-interest have long typified both Democratic and Republican administrations. Cockburn charts the connections between the American military bureaucracy and the defense industry, which have created a senseless drive for ever-greater spending on arms. After the failed adventures of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Pentagon now seeks fresh rewards through inflating the threat from China and Iran, deploying time-tested techniques to boost the budget, including the invocation of supposedly superior enemy weapons development.
The American empire has reached a watershed. With Trump back in the White House, Washington Is Burning is a must-read account of unedifying practices in the US capital.
Reviews / Votes
Washington Is Burning is a challenging book that digs deeper than the US political headlines of the day. Cockburn is alleging that layers of deceit and corruption lie beneath these headlines. -- Diarmuid O'Donovan * Irish Examiner * A smart, strongly leftist take on contemporary American politics from a noted political correspondent. * Kirkus * Cockburn targets military brass, corporate miscreants, and the politicians who service them in this vigorous collection of muckraking articles..the result is an incriminating portrait of a ruling class mired in corruption and ineptitude. * Publishers Weekly *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
460 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83674-177-0 (9781836741770)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2026
Verso Books
€28.99
Available for download
Person
ANDREW COCKBURN is the Washington Editor of Harper's Magazine. He is a regular opinion contribu-tor to the Los Angeles Times and has written for, among others, the New York Times, National Geographic, and the London Review of Books. He is the author of Spoils of War, Kill Chain, and Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy.