Jon Sopel – författare

As the BBC’s North America Editor, Jon Sopel has had a pretty busy time of it lately. In the 18 months it’s taken for a reality star to go from laughingstock to leader of the free world, Jon has travelled the length and breadth of the United States, experiencing it from a perspective that most of us could only dream of: he has flown aboard Air Force One, interviewed President Obama and has even been described as ‘a beauty’ by none other than Donald Trump. Through music, film, literature, TV and even through the food we eat and the clothes that we wear we all have a highly developed sense of what America is and through our shared, tangled history we claim a special relationship. But America today feels about as alien a country as you could imagine. It is fearful, angry and impatient for change. Reflecting on his journey across the continent to cover the most turbulent race in recent history, Jon Sopel lifts a lid on the seething resentments, profound anxieties and sheer rage that found its embodiment in a brash, unpredictable and seemingly unstoppable figure. In this fascinating, insightful portrait of American life and politics, Jon sets out to answer our questions about a country that once stood for the grandest of dreams but which is now mired in a storm of political extremism, racial division and increasingly perverse beliefs.

Brought to you by Penguin. Welcome to the White House.At the heart of Washington, there is a circus. It''s raucous, noisy and full of clowns. Reporting on it is a daily cacophony. Four major stories can blow up and blow out before breakfast, and political weather systems are moving at warp speed. The one thing absent from the weather forecast is the tranquil eye of the storm. That we never see. In A Year at the Circus: Inside Trump''s White House, BBC North America Editor, Jon Sopel, takes you inside Trump’s West Wing and explores the impact this presidency has had on the most iconic of American institutions. Each chapter starts inside a famous Washington room, uncovering its history and its new resonance in the Trump era. You are invited to step inside the Oval Office where Trump called for loyalty from FBI Director James Comey, and experience life as a reporter in the Briefing Room, where the tense relationship between the media and the President is played out. Guiding you through these rooms, Jon reveals the inner workings of the Trump White House and details the key moments and conversations that have unfolded within its walls.From Kim Jong-un and Kavanaugh to Merkel and the Mueller Inquiry - this is your insider guide to the Washington Circus. Roll up, roll up ...(c) 2019, Jon Sopel (P) 2019 Penguin Audio

Brought to you by Penguin. Fear and loathing on the 2020 campaign trail...''Feb 26, White House briefing room:The coronavirus feels like it is changing everything ... Coronavirus is suddenly not just a public health emergency; it has the potential to upend Trump''s whole campaign...''Our man in America, BBC North America Editor Jon Sopel, presents a diary of an election like we''ve never quite seen before. Experience life as a White House reporter on the campaign trail, as the election heats up and a global pandemic slowly sweeps in, challenging the very institutions of American politics and the Trump presidency. As American lives are lost at a devastating rate, the election becomes a battle for the very soul of the nation. In this highly personal account of reporting America in 2020, Jon Sopel takes you behind the senses of White House in crisis and an election in turmoil. Expertly laying bare the real story of the 2020 campaign in a panoramic account of an election and a year like no other.© Jon Sopel 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Brought to you by Penguin.From Jon Sopel, bestselling author and presenter of hit podcast The News Agents, comes an incisive examination of post-Brexit Britain and what it means for our future.Returning to the UK in some ways has been disconcerting – or maybe discombobulating would be a better word. It is, after all, my home; it is where I grew up, a country I love and am proud of. But either it’s changed, or I have. Maybe both.It just feels like a strange land.At the beginning of 2022, after eight years of political reporting in the US, Jon Sopel returned home to the UK – and having spent almost a third of his career abroad, he found a very different place to the one he left. In Strangeland, his first book since launching the global hit podcast The News Agents, he asks: What is the Britain he’s come home to?In the US, Jon was the outsider looking in, firm in the belief that the common language of English masked our fundamental differences; in terms of values and beliefs, it seemed the British had much more in common with our European neighbours.Strangeland is Jon’s account of how much that has changed. The US was a country he thought he knew well but didn’t really; returning home has been in some ways even more disconcerting – either Britain, the country he grew up in, has changed dramatically, or he has. Perhaps it’s both.A trenchant analysis of politics, people, and everything in between, Strangeland is an unforgettable portrait of a country gone through the looking glass.''I like and trust Jon Sopel and you should too'' - Joe Lycett''A hugely entertaining and quite traumatic rollercoaster'' - Armando Iannucci''A thrilling, nerve-wracking book. You couldn''t make the last ten years up; thanks to Jon Sopel, you don''t have to'' - Peter Frankopan''Acute and unflinching - Sopel deploys his foreign correspondent skills on home shores as well as far ones, and brings together the story of a tumultuous few years on both sides of the Atlantic'' - Mishal Husain© Jon Sopel 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024