It’s impossible for any book to keep pace with the breakneck speed of the Trump-era news cycle. Every day is, seemingly, another insane news day. But for anyone looking for a broad overview of what we know about the case for collusion with Russia, there’s a great book now available in paperback. In its most compelling moments, Collusion, by veteran Guardian reporter Luke Harding, is a thorough and deftly compiled case against the president and his 2016 campaign. Reading it feels like having a pint with Harding, as he quietly walks us through the whole twisted, convoluted endeavor.
Harding does, at the book’s most electric moment, have a beer in a bar with one of the most interesting and least heard-from characters in the Trump-Russia story: former spy and famous dossier creator Michael Steele. Although Steele emerges from this meeting even more enigmatic and shadowed than before, it’s nonetheless a breathtaking moment. Sadly, good spies don’t generally spill their guts over beers. Steele seems to advise Harding to follow the money and sends him on his way, along a cogent, well-reported path through many twists and turns.