Marie Brenner - A Private War

Thirty years later, on the day after Donald J. Trump was elected president, Roger Stone was one of the callers who got through to his old friend at Trump Tower. “Mr. President,” said Stone. “Oh, please, call me Donald,” Stone remembered Trump saying.

A few moments later, Trump sounded wistful. “Wouldn’t Roy love to see this moment? Boy, do we miss him.”

Thank you, most of all, to the many who have so generously shared their stories with me over decades of reporting. You have given me the gift of your trust, and for that, my gratitude is unending.

At Simon & Schuster, thank you to Jofie Ferrari-Adler, the most generous and thoughtful of editors, who suggested the idea of this collection. Thank you to Al Madocs, Elisa Shokoff at Simon & Schuster Audio, and Julianna Haubner. And as well to Jonathan Karp, Simon & Schuster’s president and publisher. At Vanity Fair, many thanks to Graydon Carter, Tina Brown, Wayne Lawson, Mark Rozzo, and David Friend for years of guidance. A special thank-you to Mary Flynn, Simon Brennan, and Robert Walsh, whose factual and legal reviews have enhanced every story we worked on together for years of late night emails and dawn closings. I am especially grateful to my agents, Amanda Burden and Ron Bernstein, for our long collaboration and friendship. My deep gratitude to the director Matt Heineman, the producer Marissa McMahon, the writer Arash Amel, and the actress Rosamund Pike, whose tenacity and passion brought A Private War to the screen. And to the director Michael Mann and writer Eric Roth, for their searing adaptation of The Man Who Knew Too Much into The Insider . My deep appreciation to both Michael Mann and Matt Heineman for allowing me take part in their process.

And as always, none of this would have been possible without the love and support of my closest friends and my beloved Casey, Adam, James and Kat, and Lucy and Milo. And always, to Ernie, who has encouraged and loved me through it all.

MARIE BRENNER is the author of seven books and Writer at Large for Vanity Fair . She has been a staff writer at the New Yorker , a contributing editor at New York , and has won numerous awards for her reporting around the world. Her exposé of the tobacco industry, “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” was the basis for the 1999 movie The Insider , which was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. She lives in New York City.

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Simon & Schuster Paperbacks

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Copyright © 2018 by Marie Brenner

The pieces in this collection were originally published in Vanity Fair.

The piece “Judge Motley’s Verdict” was originally published in the New Yorker .

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First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition October 2018

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Interior design by Paul Dippolito

The author is donating a portion of her net proceeds

From this book to the committee to Protect Journalists

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-5011-8386-7

ISBN 978-1-5011-8385-0 (ebook)