Peril is supplemented throughout with never-before-seen material from secret orders, transcripts of confidential calls, diaries, emails, meeting notes and other personal and government records, making for an unparalleled history. It is also the first inside look at Biden’s presidency, revealing the background to his controversial decision to leave Afghanistan.

He took office faced with the challenges of a lifetime: dealing with the continuing deadly pandemic and its crushing economic impact, all the while navigating a bitter and disabling partisan divide, and the hovering, dark shadow of the former president. ‘We have much to do in this winter of peril,’ Biden declared at his inauguration. Peril is the extraordinary story of the end of one presidency and the beginning of another.

The culmination of Bob Woodward’s bestselling trilogy on the Trump presidency, along with Fear and Rage, it is an essential read for anyone wanting to understand this tumultuous period.