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Greetings From Politics and Prose! Book Events: T. R. Reid - The Healing of America, David Wessel - In Fed We Trust
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Shortcut Bar: Click below to skip to popular destinations |
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UPCOMING EVENTS - 10 DAY SUMMARY |
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Thursday August 20 Monday August 24, Tuesday August 25 Wednesday August 26 Thursday August 27 |
Monday August 31 Tuesday September 1 Wednesday September 2 Thursday September 3 For more events, click here. |
LETTER FROM CARLA & BARBARA |
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The next afternoon Howard Dean spoke on behalf of his new paperback, PRESCRIPTION FOR REAL HEALTHCARE REFORM. The store was jammed to the rafters to hear Governor Dean offer his support for efforts in Congress to make healthcare-for-all a reality. Monday night, author Michael Rosen introduced WHAT ELSE BUT HOME, a Cheaper By the Dozen for our times. He and his wife Leslie in effect fostered five boys from “the projects” in their penthouse on the Lower East Side, and his account is both funny and serious. The book offers us a window on the enormous gap between the low-income urban population and the middle-class in suburbs and city. It can be assumed that the young people whom Michael and Leslie took under their wing are somewhat typical of the New York City poor. They were profane and opinionated. All they knew was the culture in which they lived, and they were not much interested in learning more. They had no fathers in their lives. Their mothers were overburdened with making ends meet and raising other children. They sometimes went to school and sometimes didn’t. The schools were not terribly interested in them. Michael Rosen’s book illustrates how far our nation has to go to pull these young people into modern American middle-class working, taxpaying society. There are not a lot of people around like Michael and Leslie who will devote ten years to feeding, clothing, tutoring, and caring for five strangers. And remember that these are youngsters who were willing to go along with Michael’s experiment. Think of all the hostile and damaged youngsters. Read What Else But Home. It’s a great story and it raises issues that get to the heart of American life. If we want a nation where there is functional equality as well as legal equality, we must find a way to break through the cycle of poverty in which the urban poor dwell. • Carla Cohen
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COMING NOW TO YOUR FAVORITE BOOKSTORE |
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If you can’t attend a talk, but would like to reserve a signed copy,
Thursday, August 20 7 p.m. Alex S. Jones, a Pulitzer Prize-winning media critic currently at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center, argues that the real problem with the media isn’t bias but an erosion of fact-based news. Losing The News suggests that without the reliable pipeline of accurate reporting we lack the information that will allow us to be capable watchdogs of government. Monday, August 24 7 p.m. David Wessel, the chief economics correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, presents his book In Fed We Trust, on efforts by Chairman Ben Bernanke to prevent The Panic of ’09. How successful have the Fed’s policies been and to what effect? Tuesday, August 25 7 p.m. T.R. Reid, a longtime correspondent for The Washington Post and an NPR commentator, tours successful health care systems worldwide, revealing possibilities for the U.S. As the Obama Administration pursues The Healing of America with health care reform, we can look for models in wealthy, free market, industrialized democracies. Wednesday, August 26 7 p.m. From Prohibition through the Watts riots, gangsters, led by Bugsy Siegel’s onetime protégé, battled cops for control of Los Angeles. In L.A. Noir, John Buntin, who writes on crime for Governing magazine, focuses on William Parker, who joined the police force in the 1920s and dedicated his life to developing a strong LAPD.
Thursday, August 27 7 p.m. In 2002, when Nick McDonell was seventeen, his debut novel, Twelve, was received with much praise. His third novel, An Expensive Education, is a portrait of personalities who become ensnared in an African conflict, and who engage in debate over it on Harvard’s campus. In a very strong Washington Post review,Ron Charles commented that McDonell "blends a terse story of international intrigue with a biting satire of . . . America's aristocratic culture." Monday, August 31 7 p.m. If you missed Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson when they were at P&P on August 5, you have another chance to meet them as they have agreed to a second event. Their new book, The Battle for America 2008, a narrative analysis of the presidential campaign, covers the undercurrents of race, gender, and class as Obama and McCain battled from Iowa to the White House. Dan and Haynes, two of The Washington Post’s top journalists, will briefly introduce their book and then take your questions about the election and the current state of President Obama’s administration. Tuesday, September 1 7 p.m. Christopher Caldwell, columnist for the Financial Times and senior editor at the Weekly Standard, believes that Muslim immigrants do not assimilate well to their adopted countries, and that Muslim immigration will change Europe in ways incompatible with democratic values. Reflections on the Revolution in Europe has been widely and well reviewed as a fair-minded analysis of the potential difficulties ahead for many European nations. Wednesday, September 2 7 p.m. P&P Book Group Night : What will you read in 2009-10? Since the store began, we have encouraged reading groups, that brilliant social invention to enrich reading. Book groups are central to what we do. We order books for scores of groups who meet with friends outside the store, offering a discount to any reading group that registers its book selections with P&P. Store-sponsored groups meet monthly, led by staff or customers, and are open to all. Thursday, September 3 7 p.m. This is Where I Leave You, the latest novel from Jonathan Tropper, author of The Book of Joe and Everything Changes, focuses on the Foxmans, a family dysfunctional in its own unpredictable and often comic ways. Gathered for the funeral of the father, the four adult children and their mother (a renowned parenting expert) relive the past and try to come to terms with the challenges of their own families. There will be only weekday author events during the month of August.
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P&P CUSTOMERS ARE ALSO INVITED TO... | |
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Friday, August 21, 7:30 p.m. 
"The Parthenon," the home of Chrissellen Petropoulos HAO-JIAN TIAN Tuesday, September 8, 8 p.m.
PO BRONSON and ASHLEY MERRYMAN in conversation with DAN PINK
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P&P BESTSELLERS | |
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#1 FICTION: That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
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NEW IN PAPERBACK | |
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Death with Interruptions by José Saramago
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FROM THE CHILDREN AND TEENS' DEPARTMENT | |
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BOOK OF THE WEEK For more recommendations for kids from our staff, pick up a copy of the Children and Teens’ Favorites Summer 2009 in the store or browse our summer selections for children and teens on the website by clicking here. Sunday, August 30, 2 – 3:15 p.m. 
CAPITAL LETTERS WRITING WORKSHOP Join Capitol Letters Writing Center for this monthly creative writing workshop. CLWC volunteers Lucia and Luke will be leading the group in writing essays for a time capsule. Participants will reflect on what they would do if they were the parents and the adults in charge, and then seal their essays in a time capsule. Students will gain inspiration from Judith Viorst's If I Were In Charge Of The World and use their own imagination! This workshop is open to students ages 10-18. Admission is free, but space is limited to 15, so please RSVP to pd@capitolletters.org.
Story time Monday Morning Storytime is on hiatus and will resume on September 14 after Labor Day. For September events and more from the Children and Teens' Department, click here.
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MARKDOWN BOOKS | |
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Among the many great books in this section you’ll find: Think of Julia Child, James Beard, Claudia Roden, Madhur Jaffrey - what these and many other outstanding cookbook writers have in common is an extraordinary editor. In THE TENTH MUSE: My Life in Food, Judith Jones recounts her experiences working with these cooks, helping to shape and market their books. She also discusses how living in Paris for a time helped her to discover a new side of American food on her return, profiles her friendship with M. F. K .Fisher, and tells stories of vegetable gardening and forest foraging in Vermont. And, yes, recipes are included. Available in hardcover, $6.98. The late, amazing John Updike was as prolific a writer of nonfiction as he was of fiction. His sixth collection of reviews and articles, DUE CONSIDERATIONS: Essays and Criticism, contains pieces originally published everywhere from The New Yorker to The London Times, from Natural History and Outside to Public Affairs and Life. His topics include China, poker, cars, and, of course, books. And more books. He was as indefatigable a reader as he was a writer, and such is the breadth of his interests and the depth of his insights that this volume can double as a reference book - yet it’s so gracefully written, and done with such wit and spirit that you’ll want to do more than just dip into it. Available in hardcover, $14.98. For more recently acquired remainders, click here. | |
MUSIC NEWS | |
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Click here for András’s reviews and Music News and to buy these albums.
RICHARD THOMPSON BOX SET
• András Goldinger | |
BOOK GROUPS | |
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P&P's book groups meet monthly and are free and open to the public. Book-group titles are 20% off for participants. These are the selections for the next week. Read the book and join us!
Thursday, August 20, 2 p.m. Monday, August 24, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 25, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, 26 August, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, August 27, 7:30 p.m.
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NEWS FROM THE COFFEEHOUSE | |
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Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW Washington, DC 20008 (202) 364-1919 or (800) 722-0790 Fax: (202) 966-7532 |
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We have had a wonderful August with great books, great authors, and great customers. Last week, we had back-to-back enormous author events. On Wednesday, Richard Russo spoke about his new book 
The Avalon Theater
