A vivid eyewitness account of the historic first criminal trial of a president and a cri de coeur for American democracy from the New York Times bestselling author and presidential historian. For 23 days, Jonathan Alter sat just feet away from the most dangerous threat to democracy in American history, watching the spectacle of the century: the felony trial of Donald Trump. Highly publicized but untelevised and thus largely hidden from public view, this landmark trial offered hope of real justice amid a grueling eight-year national ordeal and foreshadowed the drama of the 2024 presidential election. As one of a handful of journalists allowed in the courtroom, Alter shares everything he witnessed— from eviscerating takes on the colorful characters to the chilling legal ups and downs—to offer a barbed, one-of-a-kind account of the trial and its aftermath. A Zelig of journalism experiencing a crisis of faith in the good sense of the American people, Alter chronicles the shaping of his political consciousness and his bracing, unpredictable relationships with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain and Joe Biden, whose historic decision to stand down in favor of former prosecutor Kamala Harris put the criminal trial front-and-center as Americans render their own verdict at the polls. Deeply personal and passionate, American Reckoning is an eye-opening book from a journalist with a front row seat on history, offering a troubled yet hopeful look at our national moment of truth.