The Fifth Risk

An eye-opening narrative told by Michael Lewis that brings the reader into the unknown world of what the U.S. Government's Departments actually do. With a new understanding of the influence that the workers in these positions have, I feel a completely new appreciation for electing leaders who are competent and understand the finer details of the government they're going to serve.

This book isn't without faults, however. Even though many of the personal accounts from incredibly well educated and interesting federal employees add to the book, it can start to become a bit dull at times. Somewhere around the halfway point, you begin to pick up on Michael Lewis' formulaic approach to their narrative - juxtaposing a brilliant Department leader with their incompetent and/or greedy replacement set there by Trump's administration. If you don't have the internal urge to say “let's start electing real politicians as President again” by the that point, you'll certainly feel it by the end.

Regardless, this book is worth the read - and I can only hope that Michael Lewis' best efforts to write a nonpartisan critique on the effects of electing a Reality TV star as president are rewarded by making this book required reading in history and government classes in the years to come.