In the sixty-four days between November 3, 2020, and January 6, 2021, President Donald Trump and his allies fought to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election. The Steal is an engaging, in-depth report on what happened during those crucial nine weeks. Focusing on six states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—Trump’s supporters claimed widespread voter fraud. Caught up in this effort were scores of activists, lawyers, judges and state and local officials. Many were die-hard Republicans who when confronted with allegations of voter fraud investigated them, found none and stood firm against Trump’s pressure to alter the results. Working with a team of researchers and reporters, Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague uncover never-before-told accounts of election officials fighting to do their jobs amid outlandish claims and threats to themselves, their colleagues and their families. Complete with a new afterword and updates throughout the text, this new edition of The Steal is a definitive account of an unprecedented event in American history.

Praise for The Steal:

“A gripping ground-level narrative of the weeks after Donald Trump lost the popular vote… The Steal is a marvel of reporting: tightly wound… but also panoramic — a kaleidoscope of stories about how officials and activists in pivotal states like Arizona and Georgia responded to Trump’s false claims of election fraud… The result is a narrative that mirrors the way elections are actually run in the United States: state by state, county by county, precinct by precinct.”—Washington Post

“The unheralded and mostly unknown Republicans active in local politics who refused to go along with Trump’s lies—and played a key role in preserving American democracy—are the main subject of The Steal by the journalists Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague. At 230 pages of text, their book is a lean, fast-paced and important account of the chaotic final weeks of the Trump administration.”—New York Times

“Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague have produced an indispensable and alarming ground-level record of how Donald Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election played out in precincts and ballot-counting centers in key states… In their terrific new book… the authors have used a stethoscope to examine the minutia of the American election process. The result is a thrilling and suspenseful celebration of the survival of democracy… Bowden and Teague have performed a singular service.”—The Guardian

“Rousing, infuriating, sobering, and instructive, this page-turning account of the election debacle exposes the legal, political, and, sadly, even physical attacks on those civic-minded individuals trusted with upholding democracy’s foundations and those committed to destroying that trust. A riveting must-read for all concerned about the future of American democracy.”—Booklist (starred review)

“The Steal is a terrifying picture of the civil war that began on Election Day 2020. Here is the rancor, distrust, and deception that spun into the conspiracies and rabbit holes that Donald Trump has used to undermine truth, logic, and common sense. This is the behind-the-scenes world of the Big Lie. The Steal reads like an edge-of-your-seat political thriller—one without a happy ending.”—Michael Wolff, New York Times bestselling author of Landslide

“The Steal is brilliant, an incredibly important document reported without bile or self-righteousness. A book every conservative should read.”—P. J. O’Rourke, New York Times bestselling author of Parliament of Whores

“It’s impossible to think of a better combination of writing and reporting talent to cover an historic assault on democracy than Mark Bowden and Matt Teague. That combination has produced a book that must be read now and will be read for many years to come. I made the mistake of starting The Steal in the evening and did not sleep until completed. It is incredibly informative, terrifying and a screeching klaxon of alarm for our democracy. Imagine A.J. Liebling and William Shirer combing to write about the Reichstag fire of 1933 and that’s the sort of gift we—and history—have been given with The Steal.”—Stuart Stevens, New York Times bestselling author of It Was All a Lie

“Visiting the six swing states at the heart of the election controversy, veteran journalists Bowden and Teague interviewed both the valiant overseers of the voting process and the passionate Trump supporters fomenting dissent. Rousing, infuriating, sobering, and instructive, this page-turning account of the election debacle exposes the legal, political, and, sadly, even physical attacks on those civic-minded individuals trusted with upholding democracy’s foundations and those committed to destroying that trust. A riveting must-read for all concerned about the future of American democracy.”—Booklist, starred review

Praise for Mark Bowden:

“With its blistering descriptions of an American special-forces operation gone wrong, Mark Bowden’s 1999 nonfiction book Black Hawk Down made for excellent action-movie fare. The story told in his latest work, the deeply unsettling The Last Stone, unfolds more slowly but is no less potent. Bowden displays his tenacity as a reporter in his meticulous documentation of the case.”—Time, on The Last Stone

“This is a story of extraordinary persistence and the grimmest, least romantic kind of heroism there is, and Bowden tells it with the dexterity of an old pro.”—Wall Street Journal, on The Last Stone

 “A telling a stirring, suspenseful, thoughtful story that, miraculously, neither oversimplifies the details nor gets lost in the thicket of a four-decade case file. This is a cat-and-mouse tale, told beautifully. But like all great true crime, The Last Stone finds its power not by leaning into cliché but by resisting it — pushing for something more realistic, more evocative of a deeper truth.”—The New York Times, on The Last Stone

“Riveting true crime from the ever-capable author… A keen synthesis of an intricate, decades long investigation, a stomach-churning unsolved crime, and a solid grasp of time, place, and character results in what is sure to be another bestseller for Bowden.”—Kirkus Reviews, on The Last Stone

“Bowden delivers a narrative nonfiction masterpiece in this account of fiercely dedicated police detectives working to close a cold case. This is an intelligent page-turner likely to appeal even to readers who normally avoid true crime.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) , on The Last Stone