The Washington Post e-books

Uncovering Trump: The Truth Behind Donald Trump's Charitable Giving

From David A. Fahrenthold, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, comes a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the stories and scandals of Donald Trump’s campaign.

In February of 2016, Donald Trump promised $6 million in donations, including $1 million from his own pocket, to local charities along his campaign trail. But by the time he won the New Hampshire primary, he had stopped giving away money and had donated far less than his pledged amount. Washington Post reporter David A. Fahrenthold went in search of the missing money, and found a bigger story than he ever expected.

Obama’s Legacy

Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama has become far more than a symbol of change; he has enacted countless programs and policies that have made an impact on the country. As his term comes to an end, we look back on what has defined Obama as an American leader.

Generation Z: What It's Like to Grow Up in the Age of Likes, LOLs, and Longing

This series of articles from the Washington Post delves into the everyday lives of American kids and teenagers. With its exploration of the unique pressures and complications of living an online life (and most of life online), this collection is a must-read for anyone raising a member of Generation Z.

Brain Hacking: The new science of curing mental illness

In her writing for The Washington Post, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Amy Ellis Nutt reveals the newest findings and the latest tools as scientists try to unravel the mysteries of what’s been called the most complex object in the universe: the human brain.

A Marine on Trial

After a flawed sexual assault investigation, a Naval Academy instructor fights to prove he has done nothing wrong. But did he? Innocent. That’s what Marine Maj. Mark Thompson declared the first time he met with Washington Post reporter John Woodrow Cox. He’d been fighting to prove it ever since two young women accused the former history instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy of having sex with them while they were students.

Looking for America: A Journey Into the Country’s Divided Heart

The 2016 election was unlike any that we'd seen before. The campaign saw the rise of Donald Trump, the New York provocateur who seized the Republican Party from its bewildered establishment, and seized an angry electorate. What's happening in America? What does it mean to be American? For nearly 35 days, Washington Post journalists crossed the nation looking for answers, chronicling them in this book.

The Cost of Clemency: The Lives of 46 Former Prisoners Whose Sentences Were Commuted by President Obama

President Obama has commuted more sentences than his seven predecessors combined. The Washington Post wanted to know who those 46 people are and what life is like, in their words, a year after they learned they would go free. More than 40 Post reporters and editors worked to track down the individuals who received clemency and record their stories, which we present here.

The Resistance: Digital Dissent in the Age of Machines

Washington Post reporter Joel Achenbach explores our relationship with technology—frequently beneficial, occasionally adversarial, and rapidly changing in a world growing more connected by the minute.

Lethal Force: The true toll of police shootings in America

In 2015, The Washington Post launched an unprecedented effort to account for every fatal shooting by an officer of the law. Their study has motivated the FBI to action, and changed the way we think of those who serve and protect.

Justice for None: How the drug war broke the legal system

When tough-on-crime laws passed 30 years ago during an era of drug-fueled violence, they were supported across the political spectrum. The subsequent “war on drugs” sent non-violent offenders to prison for decades and, in some cases, life. Washington Post reporters, in a series of revealing and wrenching stories throughout 2015, unlocked the prison gates and allowed readers to experience the human devastation wrought by sentencing policies now under scrutiny.

Runaway Planet: How Global Warming is already changing the Earth

In our fragile ecosystem, climate change is swiftly becoming the defining issue of how to prepare—and protect—the earth for the future. The Washington Post tackles this issue in vivid detail, profiling those who are at the forefront of the climate change debate—and those who are in the field, promoting the causes and doing the science that both warns and advocates for a safer tomorrow, for the earth and all its inhabitants.

State of Terror: The War Against ISIS

They have taken over a region the size of the United Kingdom, and sparked one of the great humanitarian crises of our time. Now, with coordinated attacks in Paris and the downing of a Russian passenger plane, the Islamic State (ISIS) has declared war on the wider world, galvanizing new calls for an intensified global response.

The Threatened Net: How the Web Became a Perilous Place

The Internet can appear to be elegantly designed, but as The Washington Post’s Craig Timberg demonstrated in his illuminating series “Net of Insecurity,” the network is much more an assemblage of kludges—more Frankenstein than Ferrari—that endure because they work, or at least work well enough. Many have tried to write about the origins of the Internet. But never before has a writer so thoroughly elucidated the history of the security of the internet – and why basic flaws in its design continue to leave this country wide open to digital threats.

Ferguson: Three Minutes That Changed America

Three minutes in middle America shook a nation to its foundation. To many, it shone a spotlight on the frequently violent, often deadly interactions between young men of color and police departments. It highlighted the racial disparity in policing techniques, in response to crime, and in how race relations are perceived in an America where many incorrectly pride the country on being "post-racial." From the Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post comes a meticulously detailed, insightful report on the killing that brought the nation's attention to a city coming apart at the seams.

Civil War Stories: A 150th Anniversary Collection

At The Washington Post, the Civil War has held an enduring fascination for both readers and writers. Raging from 1861-1865, the Battle Between the States has left a lasting imprint on the United States' collective psyche for 150 years. "Civil War Stories: A 150th Anniversary Collection" aggregates historical data with contemporary reflections, as journalists and historians put the bloody war into context.

Justice in Indian Country

his eye-opening report is the product of a year-long investigation into how the legal system in Indian country fails some of America's most vulnerable citizens—and what is being done to begin to rectify an ongoing tragedy. Sari Horwitz, recipient of the ASNE Award for Distinguished Writing on Diversity, traveled to an Indian reservation in Minnesota to interview a Native American woman who had been sexually assaulted, as had her mother and daughter. In each case, the assailants, who were not Native American, were not prosecuted due to loopholes in the laws on jurisdiction of criminal prosecution on Indian reservations. This story set her off on a journey across the country, into remote villages and tribal lands where Horwitz uncovered the widespread failures of the American legal system and its inability to protect Native American women and children.

Holiday Cookies: 45 of Our Best Recipes

The Washington Post shares some of its favorite recipes, culled from nine years of annual Holiday Cookies editions. This collection features 45 fun and delicious make-ahead recipes, including traditional sugar cookies, spiced cookies, low-fat cookies, no-bakes, gluten-free and more—all with full-color photos.

NSA Secrets: Government Spying in the Internet Age

The NSA's extensive surveillance program has riveted America as the public questions the threats to their privacy. As reported by The Washington Post, in their Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of whistleblower Edward Snowden's NSA leaks, NSA SECRETS delves into the shadowy world of information gathering, exposing how data about you is being gathered every day.

The Permanent War: Rise of the Drones

The Pulitzer Prize-nominated examination of the United States drone campaign, and U.S. counterterrorism policies. Collected together for the first time, The Permanent War is the result of a year of investigative reporting on the who, what, and how behind the targeted killing policies that will form the core of American counterterrorism efforts for years to come.

Zero Day: The Threat in Cyberspace

So much of the world’s activity takes place on the internet now – including commerce, banking and communications -- the Pentagon has declared war in cyberspace an inevitability. For more than a year, Washington Post reporter Robert O'Harrow has explored the threats proliferating in our digital universe. This e-book is a compilation of that reporting. With chapters built around real people, including hackers, security researchers and corporate executives, this book will help regular people, lawmakers and businesses better understand the mind-bending challenge of keeping the internet safe from hackers and security breaches -- and all out war.

The Original Watergate Stories

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Watergate scandal, The Washington Post's seminal Watergate stories have been gathered together for the first time as an e-book, including a foreword by journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein assessing the impact of their stories 40 years later.

The Hunt for bin Laden

The long and secret effort to track down Osama bin Laden has been called the biggest, costliest manhunt in history. This reconstruction, compiled from reporting from more than two-dozen Washington Post correspondents and staffers over more than 15 years, traces the hunt from its beginnings in 1997, during the Clinton administration.