When self-described real estate expert Stephen Gilpin first arrived in Manhattan, he was a Quaalude-popping blue jeans model. To make ends meet, he attended house parties of the wealthy, a handsome face for hire. It was dull work, and to distract himself Gilpin would contemplate the makings of the grand homes of his hosts. It was then, sometime in the 1990s, that Gilpin visited Trump Tower, where he was dazzled by “the sixty-foot high waterfall.”

“What an impressive place!” he writes. “I could feel the power and smell of money.”

Gilpin’s first book, “Trump U: The Inside Story of Trump University” is a chronicle of how one man went from posing for Levi Strauss to proselytizing for property at Trump University, the for-profit education venture launched in 2005 by Donald Trump. The book is Gilpin’s attempt to restore a reputation sullied by years of allegations about fraudulent practices at the business. But it’s also an indictment of one of the president’s most prominent ventures, one that was shut down after just five years, led to a $25 million settlement and continues to shape his public image.

Read the full review at The Real Deal.