It Was All a Lie

If you want an inside view of someone who has helped build the Republican party and its winners over the decades but finds what it has become abhorrent, and realize that these elements weren't just a fringe element the whole time but the core, this is it.

This book belongs on the same shelf as the Republican post-mortem analysis of Mitt Romney's defeat in 2012. It's an unflinching look at how, over the last 50 years, the GOP has changed from a party of ideals and values into a party that exists solely to cling to power for its own sake.
Stevens shows how Republicans embraced the Southern strategy of exploiting racism for partisan gain, and never looked back.
If you're not familiar with the history of American politics, this will enlighten you. If you don't watch the news, this will appall and enlighten you. If you do know history and follow the news, you can still admire Stevens's deftness with language, and the way he so concisely lays bare much that's wrong with the Republican party and American politics in general.