The scathing critiques, she said, “don’t seem to be making much of a difference.” “Everyone has been astounded,” the director of publicity of Random House told the Associated Press.
Shortly after its release, a few weeks into January of 1988, Trump’s book was at the top of the New York Times’ list of best-sellers, surprising even his publishers. Fortune noted his “shallowness” and “pomposity” and his need for “more money,” more “toys” and “more attention.” The book, said The New Republic, “is a weapon in the continuing public relations war that is Donald Trump’s way of doing business.” “The man’s lack of taste is as vast as his lack of shame,” said the Washington Post. They dismissed The Art of the Deal as self-promotional pap. Reviewers trashed Donald Trump’s first book.
