American Scoundrel
Will be published approx. on 1. September 2026
464 pages
E-Book
978-1-3985-6692-7 (ISBN)
Description
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of American Prometheus, inspiration for the Oscar-winning sensation Oppenheimer, a biography of Roy Cohn ? arguably the mastermind behind the current arc of American political life, including the ascent of Donald Trump.
From the 1950s to the 1980s, the many dramas of American political life had one common denominator: Roy Cohn. In his twenties, the infamous young prosecutor sent Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair and burned 30,000 books by 'communist' authors, becoming the baby-faced symbol of McCarthyism. By his thirties, Cohn, with a red scar that ran down his nose from a botched childhood operation, was known in New York City as the Mafia's hired legal gun. In his forties, he partied with the glitterati at Studio 54 and became friends with Richard Nixon. In his fifties, Cohn was invited to Reagan's Oval Office. Nancy Reagan called Cohn often for advice and gossip ? indeed, Cohn had an almost insatiable interest in gossip, and much of his influence over the years derived from his transactional relationship with gossip columnists. Perhaps most significantly, he mentored the young Donald Trump. The real estate developer, whom Cohn called his 'best friend', phoned him a dozen times a day.
Cohn considered himself the one lawyer in town who could always escape the consequences. Indicted by the Feds on three occasions for bribery, perjury, extortion and other white-collar crimes, he was acquitted every time. To achieve his ends, he did whatever it took. 'If you need somebody to get vicious', Trump once said, 'hire Roy Cohn.'
Years after his death of AIDS in 1986, Cohn emerged as a central figure in Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1992 play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Cohn's feistiness, his surly defiance ? and, yes, his charm ? were frequently flourished to conceal vast insecurities, particularly regarding his sexuality. As his friend Sidney Zion once wrote, 'Roy lived in a closet that was the oddest in history ? a closet with neon lights ? but he maintained it fiercely.'
A streetfighter, self-promoting hustler, and scheming conman, Cohn was a nefarious actor in one unscrupulous tale after another. He was a true Zelig of the dark side.
From the 1950s to the 1980s, the many dramas of American political life had one common denominator: Roy Cohn. In his twenties, the infamous young prosecutor sent Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair and burned 30,000 books by 'communist' authors, becoming the baby-faced symbol of McCarthyism. By his thirties, Cohn, with a red scar that ran down his nose from a botched childhood operation, was known in New York City as the Mafia's hired legal gun. In his forties, he partied with the glitterati at Studio 54 and became friends with Richard Nixon. In his fifties, Cohn was invited to Reagan's Oval Office. Nancy Reagan called Cohn often for advice and gossip ? indeed, Cohn had an almost insatiable interest in gossip, and much of his influence over the years derived from his transactional relationship with gossip columnists. Perhaps most significantly, he mentored the young Donald Trump. The real estate developer, whom Cohn called his 'best friend', phoned him a dozen times a day.
Cohn considered himself the one lawyer in town who could always escape the consequences. Indicted by the Feds on three occasions for bribery, perjury, extortion and other white-collar crimes, he was acquitted every time. To achieve his ends, he did whatever it took. 'If you need somebody to get vicious', Trump once said, 'hire Roy Cohn.'
Years after his death of AIDS in 1986, Cohn emerged as a central figure in Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1992 play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Cohn's feistiness, his surly defiance ? and, yes, his charm ? were frequently flourished to conceal vast insecurities, particularly regarding his sexuality. As his friend Sidney Zion once wrote, 'Roy lived in a closet that was the oddest in history ? a closet with neon lights ? but he maintained it fiercely.'
A streetfighter, self-promoting hustler, and scheming conman, Cohn was a nefarious actor in one unscrupulous tale after another. He was a true Zelig of the dark side.
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Other editions
Additional editions
Kai Bird | Susan Goldmark
American Scoundrel
Book
approx. 09/2026
Simon & Schuster Ltd
€37.50
Not yet published
Persons
Kai Bird is the co-author with Martin J. Sherwin of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, American Prometheus:The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (2005), which also won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography. His other books include The Chairman: John J. McCloy, the Making of the American Establishment (1992) and The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy & William Bundy, Brothers in Arms (1998). Bird's many honours include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the German Marshall Fund, and the Rockefeller Foundation. A contributing editor of the Nation, he lives in Kathmandu, Nepal, with his wife and son.
Susan Goldmark, Kai Bird's wife and chief researcher, has worked in over seventy-five countries?in consulting, for nonprofits, and at the World Bank. She was a World Bank Country Director in Nepal and later in Latin America. She holds a BA from Carleton College and a graduate degree in development economics from Princeton University. Susan has been Kai's muse for decades and led the research for American Scoundrel.
Susan Goldmark, Kai Bird's wife and chief researcher, has worked in over seventy-five countries?in consulting, for nonprofits, and at the World Bank. She was a World Bank Country Director in Nepal and later in Latin America. She holds a BA from Carleton College and a graduate degree in development economics from Princeton University. Susan has been Kai's muse for decades and led the research for American Scoundrel.
