What happened? It’s the question we’ve all been asking since Donald Trump’s surprise ascent to the US presidency. It is also the title of Hillary Clinton’s new book, in which she looks back at her campaign and reveals what she thinks … happened. Some Democrats, Bernie Sanders included, have objected to the book, saying it is important to look forward and not back, but those of us still walking around incredulous will probably buy it seeking answers. Even if that answer is clarifying just how bad Clinton’s campaign was.

Clinton is not alone as a failed candidate in publishing a book dissecting events – she’s not even alone as a failed candidate of 2016 publishing a book. Here’s a list of some other titles written by hopefuls who never made it to the White House (or in some cases, the nomination):

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Campaign buttons for Barry Goldwater’s presidential run in 1964. Photograph: David Frent/Corbis via Getty Images

The Conscience of a Conservative (1960) by Barry Goldwater

Goldwater’s slim, ghostwritten book caused a sensation on publication, reignited conservatism, made him a star and influenced Republican thought for decades. But it also provided some of the grounds for a smear campaign against him when he ran for president in 1964: a magazine called Fact asked 12,000 psychiatrists, none of whom had treated Goldwater, whether he was “psychologically fit” for the top job. The criticism led to the Goldwater rule, a stipulation that psychiatrists should not speculate about the mental health of a public figure.

But though Goldwater lost the election to Lyndon Baines Johnson by a landslide, his book is still often namechecked. Economist Paul Krugman wrote a riposte, The Conscience of a Liberal, in 2007.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The multi-talented Mike Huckabee playing bass guitar. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

God, Guns, Grits and Gravy by Mike Huckabee (2015)

I’m afraid a huge motivation for including this is the title, because: the title. I don’t know who is advising twice-Republican-candidate and Fox News host Huckabee on what to name his books, but give them a raise, because he also published a diet guide entitled Quit Digging Your Grave With a Knife and Fork (2005). To which I can only say: you tell ’em, Mike, you tell ’em.

Here, Huckabee goes full Huckabee. He touches on pop culture – “I’ve seen dusty pickup truck windshields that were less see-through than the mesh ‘dress’ Rihanna wore”; posits that if Jewish people had had access to guns, then the Holocaust would never have happened; rants about Gordon Ramsay and describes North Koreans as eating “lawn clippings” (me neither).

No Apology: The Case for American Greatness by Mitt Romney (2010)

For Mitt Romney, sorry seems to be the hardest word. The title is actually a nod to his belief in American exceptionalism and annoyance with Barack Obama for sometimes acknowledging awkward truths about US history. Many people bought No Apology, clearing space on their shelves laden with binders full of women. The book was very briefly No 1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution by Bernie Sanders (2017)

Sanders’ summer release is all about once again feeling the Bern, encouraging young adults to get into politics. The much loved campaigner calls for young people to “fight for a progressive economic, environmental, racial and social justice agenda”, casually dropping in the fact he gained more youth votes than Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump combined.

He also writes: “It is my observation that the current generation of young people is the smartest, most idealistic, and least prejudiced generation in the modern history of the United States”. Which is a change from the usual millennial-bashing polemics.

The Good Fight: The Education of an American Reformer by Gary Hart (1995)

Oh, Gary Hart! Such promise, such scandal. Hart had narrowly missed out on the 1984 Democrat nomination and was the frontrunner in his follow-up 1988 bid before he had to drop out after an (alleged) affair was exposed – via a picture of him cavorting on a yacht with someone who wasn’t his wife. Rather brilliantly, the yacht was called Monkey Business. So the narrative sort of worked itself out on that one.

Hart was a talented politician and has authored many books, including the taking-no-prisonersPatriot: An Exhortation to Liberate America from the Barbarians (1996), but The Good Fight was his first big book after the, you know, monkey business. In 2006, he also put out The Courage of Our Convictions: A Manifesto for Democrats.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jeb Bush reacts to a question from a journalist a while on the 2016 campaign trail in Columbia. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP

Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution by Jeb Bush (2014)

It’s tempting to choose Bush’s more recent book Reply All (choice quote: “just like a BlackBerry, I needed recharging from time to time”), but I’ve picked his 2014 book because of the brutal fact it sold fewer than 4,600 copies in hardback. But Bush can comfort himself with the knowledge that he’s not the only remaindered Republican: Rick Santorum has sold just 6,831 copies of American Patriots (2012); Rand Paul scraped past 10,000 for Government Bullies (2012); and Scott Walker sold 19,096 of Unintimidated (2013).

Ted Cruz, however, received a reported $1.5m advance from HarperCollins for A Time for Truth: Reigniting the Promise of America (2015) – and it paid off, with 11,854 copies selling in its first week alone. A shame then, that the New York Times initially refused to recognise A Time for Truth as a bestseller because of the “preponderance of evidence” that Cruz was bulk-buying his own book.

Rising to the Challenge: My Leadership Journey by Carly Fiorina (2015)

Look, we needed a woman in the list, and given that the patriarchy has all but locked out women from running for the “highest office in the land”, Fiorina will have to do. Rising to the Challenge – incidentally also what I call ordering pudding after two starters and a main – detailed Fiorina’s, well, leadership journey. The book was released at the same time as her announcement to run as a Republican presidential candidate for 2016, so much of the book teases potential policies – but it’s also a defence of her CEO tenure at Hewlett Packard.

A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties by Ben Carson MD (2015)

This snappily titled tome by Ben Carson MD (the MD is important, never forget it) is just one of many books that Ben Carson MD has penned, all of which come with a picture of the great physician posing on the jacket like the seer he is, hand cupping chin/hands clasped/arms folded. He is a bestseller: his 2014 book, One Nation: What We Can All Do To Save America’s Future sold a staggering 360,000 copies in its first year. A More Perfect Union served as campaign literature in the run-up to his 2016 Republican candidacy, covering his thoughts on same-sex marriage, religion and taxes. (You can probably infer some of these positions once you know that he recommends the same retrospective Holocaust remedy as Huckabee.)

Worth the Fighting For by John McCain (2002)

The follow-up to McCain’s bestselling Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir (“the prose may be flat, but the story is gripping”, according to the Observer), Worth the Fighting For covers McCain’s congressional career and culminates in his failed 2000 presidential nomination campaign. McCain went on to win the Republican nomination in 2008 and run against Barack Obama and … well, we know how that worked out.

Why Not Me? The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency by Al Franken (1999)

I could have gone with an Al Gore book, sure, but Gore’s books are more about global issues than his own experiences in politics. He also never wrote a book about the 2000 race. So instead, I’ve gone with this satirical novel by comedian Franken (and subsequent real-life senator). Written in the style of a candidate’s memoir, it is set around a 2000 election in which Franken beats Gore to the Democratic nomination. It would be spoiling it to reveal the ending, but as with the real lives of the other authors in this list, it’s safe to say things don’t exactly go to plan.