This month's book is The Fifth Risk (Michael Lewis, 2018, 254 pp).

In The Fifth Risk, Lewis (of Money Ball and Liar’s Poker) writes about the disastrous transition period after the election of 2016 when Donald Trump becomes president. The Washington Post calls this slim book “a love letter to Federal employees.” In it, Lewis throws light on the mentality of Trump appointees, many of whom had no experience with the agencies they were supposed to run, or worse, had agendas which included suppression of important government data. In contrast are the federal employees Lewis interviews for the book, the “project managers,” who work hard and have the expertise to deal with the “five risks.” Lewis, a lively and easy to read writer, makes stories about bureaucracy “entertaining,” and The Washington Post tells us that Lewis helps us appreciate “what was going on inside those bland office buildings.”