A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times

(Paperback)

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INSTANTNEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER

Former Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper reveals the shocking details of his tumultuous tenure while serving in the Trump administration.

A graduate of West Point, Mark Esper has always lived by the principles of Duty, Honor, and Country. For eighteen months while he served as secretary of defense under President Donald Trump, those ideals were put to the test.

From June of 2019 until his firing by President Trump after the November 2020 election, Secretary Mark T. Esper led the Department of Defense through an unprecedented time in history. Esper takes readers behind the scenes during dramatic moments in the Trump administration involving several foreign nations and as he worked to shore up the United States shaky relationships with its alliesall while facing a global pandemic that threatened Americas military readiness, a nationwide unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd, and a White House determined to politicize the armed forces.

Unvarnished and extraordinary in its candor, A Sacred Oath is a memoir critical to understanding the Trump administration during this tumultuous period in American history.

Reviews

A Sacred Oathpulls no punches. It depicts Trump as unfit for office and a threat to democracy, a prisoner of wrath, impulse and appetite. Over 752 pages, EspersMemoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Timesare surgically precise in their score-settling. This is not just another book to be tossed on the pyre of Trump-alumni revenge porn. It is scary and sobering. The Guardian Mr. Esper details the all-consuming task of managing Americas largest and most vital cabinet departmentinstructive reading for those unfamiliar with what operationalizing national security policy decisions involves. Time and again, he shows how presidential inattention, ignorance, incuriosity, duplicity and unwillingness to take responsibility for hard decisions all put the United States at risk. A Sacred Oathis not a gratuitous tell-all. It is a work of history. Mr. Esper has his perspectives, to which he is entitled, but his willingness to go on the record at length is invaluable. Look forward to the reaction from Mar-a-Lago. Wall Street Journal A damning portrait of a chaotic, inept administration that posed countless dangers to the nation and the world. Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio

Mark T. Esper served as secretary of defense from 2019 to 2020 and as secretary of the Army from 2017 to 2019. A distinguished graduate of West Point, he spent twenty-one years in uniform, including a combat tour in the 1991 Gulf War. Esper earned a Ph.D. from George Washington University while working on Capitol Hill and at the Pentagon as a political appointee. He was also a senior executive at a prestigious think tank, at various business associations and commission, and at a Fortune 100 technology company. Esper is the recipient of multiple civilian and military awards, and currently sits on several public policy and business boards.