The book, Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton?s Doomed Campaign, a title signifying Clinton?s crushed dreams of becoming Obama?s successor, was written by political journalists Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen and discusses her unsuccessful presidential campaign of 2016. The book is based on interviews with some of Clinton?s campaign staff conducted over a period of a-year-and-a-half, going deep into the campaign organisation to try understand what went wrong. What follows is a detailed presentation of proceedings and significant events that took place during the campaign. Allen and Parnes highlight some of the things they believe the campaign strategists, speechwriters, organizers, the manager, and the candidate herself did or did not do to persuade voters.

There are so many weaknesses underscored by the authors, including difficulties in translating the candidate?s character into positive campaign slogans and themes, the inability to target white middle-class voters in states like Michigan, failing to stay current with polling data, and failing to learn from the campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. The book makes some important assertions: some of Clinton?s close confidants and aides tried to get Robby Mook, her campaign manager, fired; Huma Abedin, Clinton?s closest confidant, targeted individuals who gave useful criticism to their campaign; and Mook relied heavily on analytical data in making decisions, something that limited his options and ultimately weakened his campaign strategies.