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Click here for our events calendar to preview upcoming events through the end of August.
Members always save 20% on author event books and titles included in other special promotions. Click here to register!
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Thursday, June 16
7 p.m. Pete Hamill - Tabloid City
Friday, June 17
10:30 a.m. Elaine Sciolino - La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life (Book signing only)
7 p.m. Sam Kean - The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
Saturday, June 18
6 p.m. Snigdha Prakash - All the Justice Money Can Buy: Corporate Greed on Trial
Sunday, June 19
FATHER'S DAY - No Event Scheduled
Monday, June 20
10:30 a.m. Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer - Sing to Your Baby
7 p.m. Louisa Thomas - Conscience: Two Soldiers, Two Pacifists, One Family--a Test of Will and Faith in World War I
Tuesday, June 21
7 p.m. Ellis Cose - The End of Anger: A New Generation's Take on Race and Rage
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Wednesday, June 22
7 p.m. Mary Doria Russell - Doc
Thursday, June 23
7 p.m. Brooke Gladstone - The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media (in conversation with James Fallows)
Friday, June 24
7 p.m. Steven Weinberg and Casey Scieszka - To Timbuktu: Nine Countries, Two People, One True Story
Saturday, June 25
10:30 a.m. Alex & Hal Malchow - The Sword of Darrow (Book signing only)
6 p.m. Keith Donohue - Centuries of June
Sunday, June 26
5 p.m. John Prendergast & Michael Mattocks - Unlikely Brothers: Our Story of Adventure, Loss, and Redemption
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LETTER FROM BARBARA
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 Friday, June 17, 10:30 a.m.
ELAINE SCIOLINO
LA SEDUCTION: How the French Play the Game of Life (Times, $27)
Special event! New York Times Paris correspondent Elaine Sciolino, is full of savoir faire about how the French "play the game of life." Currently, President Obama, Sciolino says, is a grand seducteur with his élégance, intelligence, et beauté, but it's the French who have mastered the art of cunning intellectual foreplay with abundant but subtle use of double entendres or "second degree," as it is known in France. It's all great fun and a cornucopia of the French pursuit of pleasure.
You may have read my review of La Seduction last week or seen her article "Operation Seduction" in the New York Times. Well, she just offered to stop by for a signing while she is in town.
Stop by and meet her, or order a signed copy.
FATHER'S DAY GIFT BAGS
Father's Day is this Sunday, June 19th. We've selected ten exceptional books that we think are perfect for dads. To tailor the gift for the father or grandfather in your life, pick any five books that you know he'll love from these ten selections. In addition, you can choose to include either a Politics & Prose canvas tote bag or a P&P baseball cap. We will wrap each book individually and are happy to ship your gift wherever you need.
Click here to learn more about our Father's Day Gift Bag.
Click here for other gift suggestions for fathers.
We also recommend the gift of a Book-a-Month or enrollment in our Signed First Editions Club for books that will arrive all year long.
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BARBARA'S BYLINE
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Albert Brooks began his career as a stand-up comic and morphed into a screenwriter and director of such Hollywood hits as Lost in America and Modern Romance. Now, he's written his debut novel, 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America (St. Martin's, $25.99), a hilarious take on the world, some twenty years into the future, when technology has run amok and medicine has discovered a cure for cancer.
Of course, there's a downside to this medical miracle: AARP has grown from a membership of 35,000,000 to 100,000,000. The government, financially overwhelmed and unable to fend off the demands of the elderly, has nearly collapsed under the exponentially growing national debt. Hospital emergency rooms are "more crowded than the Department of Motor Vehicles." "Resentment gangs" of the young are angrily, but helplessly, protesting the power of the aged.
It seems there's no limit to Brooks's ingenuity in describing this world of the future with black comedy and gallows humor, peppered with scores of one-line, laugh-aloud zingers. There are few aspects of daily living that have escaped his hilarious scenarios; and, though I suspect that Brooks is deadly serious about what he detects in a present reality hurtling out of control toward 2030, there is no damper on the entertainment. So far, it's the funniest, most thought-provoking, summer novel.
- Barbara Meade
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BOOKNOTES
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INTERVIEW WITH SAM KEEN
Sam Kean is a science writer currently working at Science Magazine in Washington D.C. He has written for Mental Floss, Slate, The New York Times Magazine and Air and Space. His first book, THE DISAPPEARING SPOON: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements (Little, Brown and Company, $24.99/ Back Bay, $14.99), brings a human element to the elements. He illustrates both the history and the science behind the periodic table of elements through stories of greed, folly, genius and politics. Mr. Kean takes a chart dreaded as dull and indecipherable since its conception and brings it to life with engaging, astonishing tales. Anna Thorn, one of our booksellers, asked Mr. Kean about chemistry class, his varied interests, and why lady chemists have often seemed to deserve pity. Here is an excerpt; click here for the rest of the interview. We hope it will entice you to join us this Friday at 7p.m. when he visits us at the store!
AT: One of my favorite things about The Disappearing Spoon is the amazing breadth of knowledge that you bring to the exploration of the periodic table. You write about history, biology, economics, mythology and many other subjects. You majored in physics and literature and have a masters' in library science. With all these fascinating interests, what inspired you to write a book about chemistry?
SK: I actually don't consider it a book about chemistry! Or rather, it's only partly about chemistry. It's really about the periodic table, and I knew that the table intersects with so many different areas of life that I wouldn't be limited to chemistry. As for why I started writing the book, I knew a few of the tales from teachers and other sources over the years, and I just thought it would be great to get them all in one place, and cover the entire table, top to bottom, every element. I really liked the idea of completeness there, since there are so many elements we never get to talk about in class.
AT: Did you have a favorite chapter or story to write or research?
SK: I really enjoyed the chapter about the Soviet-American element naming war during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. It's probably the most narrative chapter in the book, and it also illustrates so well the messy way that real scientific research gets done.
AT: After exploring the tumultuous history of the periodic table, do you have any insights about the likely role of any particular elements in the future?
SK: Well, we'll definitely keep adding new elements to the table -- two more actually just got added to the table in early June, numbers 114 and 116. People always want to know if these heavy elements, which fall apart in less than a second in most cases, have any real use. And the short answer is no. But making ultraheavy elements can help scientists refine their theories and equipment, which can have trickle-down effects. And just as important, I think it satisfies something about human nature to keep exploring and keep pushing past the boundaries nature sets. So these elements are important beyond the narrow sense of having use in industry.
Click here for the rest of the interview.
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DAVID'S DELIBERATIONS
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Father's Day, Baseball and Books
Baseball means soaking up literature, dreaming unrealized dreams, understanding our ethos about striving, exertion and opportunity, and having fun on warm days. Think of Ring Lardner's You Know Me Al, James T. Farrell's (not the classic Studs Lonigan trilogy) but Dreaming Baseball (published posthumously) and Eliot Asinof's novels Man on Spikes, Strike Zone and his Eight Men Out - the tragedy of the 1919 Black Sox scandal. As a young boy, I was caught up with John R. Tunis's novels. (Later on, I learned that Tunis and Jack Dempsey were strong New Dealers.) As an older guy, I loved Jane Leavy's comic novel Squeeze Play. One writer who got past the hagiography of early baseball histories is William B. Mead's wonderful Baseball Goes to War.
We owe lots to Donald Hall's Fathers Playing Catch with Sons, (none of us had yet appreciated the impact of Title IX). When Hall published his masterful essays, our daughter, Eve, outhit our son, Aaron, and me at Cooperstown's batting cage while Carla read books in the city park. Since then, Aaron has coached his son, Ry, to be a better hitter at 10 than he himself was at 15.
- David Cohen
Click here for more. You should also consult our 2011 Summer Newsletter for Bill Leggett's baseball recommendations!
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COMING SOON TO YOUR FAVORITE BOOKSTORE
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Click www.politics-prose.com/event for our author events calendar through August.
For children's and teens' events, see the Children's Department News below.
Thursday, June 16
Pete Hamill - Tabloid City
7 p.m. Hamill combines his skills as a novelist, journalist, and keen observer of New York for this fast-paced crime novel, which features a spectacular society murder as well as the final days of the city’s last afternoon tabloid.
Friday, June 17
Elaine Sciolino - La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life (Book signing only)
10:30 a.m. New York Times Paris correspondent, Elaine Sciolino, is full of savoir faire about how the French "play the game of life." Currently, President Obama, Sciolino says, is a grand seducteur with his élégance, intelligence, et beauté, but it's the French who have mastered the art of cunning intellectual foreplay with abundant but subtle use of double entendres or "second degree," as it is known in France. It's all great fun and a cornucopia of the French pursuit of pleasure.
Sam Kean - The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
7 p.m. There’s more to the periodic table than meets the eye—the elements have some great stories behind them, and Kean, a writer for Science, recounts some of them here, from the parlor trick involving gallium (or Ga31) alluded to in the book’s title, to why Silicon Valley isn’t Germanium Valley. Join us for the paperback release of this witty survey.
Saturday, June 18
Snigdha Prakash - All the Justice Money Can Buy: Corporate Greed on Trial
6 p.m. The investigative journalist goes behind the scenes of a high-stakes trial, shadowing a top trial lawyer as he takes on one of the nation’s most respected drug companies. Building on Prakash’s NPR reports on Merck’s painkiller, Vioxx.
Sunday, June 19
FATHER'S DAY - No Event Scheduled
Your dad really doesn't need another tie! Click here for our suggestions for fathers!
Monday, June 20
Louisa Thomas - Conscience: Two Soldiers, Two Pacifists, One Family--a Test of Will and Faith in World War I
7 p.m. Thomas is the great-granddaughter of Norman Thomas, who ran for President six times on the Socialist ticket. Focusing on Norman and his three brothers, Thomas looks back to the World War I era; charting the distinct paths the brothers took—two became soldiers, two were pacifists—she explores questions of civil liberties, social justice, and violence as a vehicle for change.
Tuesday, June 21
Ellis Cose - The End of Anger: A New Generation's Take on Race and Rage
7 p.m. The heralded post-racial America hasn’t quite arrived, but the dynamics of black-white relations in this country have changed in recent years. Based on his deep experience as a writer and journalist, and on a survey he conducted among black Harvard MBAs and graduates of A Better Chance, Cose, author of Color-Blind and The Rage of a Privileged Class, offers an illuminating portrait of American society today.
Wednesday, June 22
Mary Doria Russell - Doc
7 p.m. Dodge City in 1878 was rife with gambling, prostitution, and gunfights. Russell’s second foray into historical fiction makes the Wild West a central character, with strong support from Doc Holliday, newly installed as the town’s dentist; Wyatt Earp, the part-time sheriff; and Johnnie Sanders, whose shocking demise sets several plots in motion.
Thursday, June 23
Brooke Gladstone - The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media (in conversation with James Fallows)
7 p.m. The host of NPR’s On the Media here harnesses the power of text and graphics to guide readers through the history of mass communications. Understanding today’s myriad technological resources entails looking back as far as ancient Rome, and Gladstone is a witty and instructive guide, showing us how to be shapers, not just consumers, of the media. Gladstone will be in conversation with James Fallows of The Atlantic Monthly.
Friday, June 24
Steven Weinberg and Casey Scieszka - To Timbuktu: Nine Countries, Two People, One True Story
7 p.m. After graduating from college, the authors embark on a two-year adventure, teaching English in China, then traveling through Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Mali. Their travelogue is fresh and humorous; the story of the people they meet and of their own relationship is told in both prose and witty cartoon sketches. Ages 14-18
Saturday, June 25
Keith Donohue - Centuries of June
6 p.m. Jack, the narrator of Donohue’s darkly humorous third novel, has been hit in the head, and as he tells his story from the bathroom floor, he’s interrupted by eight women, each wanting to tell her story, including why she would have wanted to knock him off.
Sunday, June 26
John Prendergast & Michael Mattocks - Unlikely Brothers: Our Story of Adventure, Loss, and Redemption
5 p.m. When the authors met, Prendergast was twenty, an activist on his way to working for human rights in Africa; Mattocks was seven, shuttling among D.C. homeless shelters with his mother and siblings. For the next twenty-five years the two treated each other as brothers, their relationship surviving the very different traumas and problems they each experienced.
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P&P CUSTOMERS ARE ALSO INVITED TO . . .
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Politics & Prose supplies books to many book signing parties and events. The events below are open to the public; however, reservations and tickets should be acquired from the hosting organization. Please contact offsite@politics-prose.com if you are planning an event and would like us to supply the books.
Thursday, June 16, 6:30 pm
 Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
600 I Street, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown
Jewish Cooking 101: Farmers' Market Meals
LEAH KOENIG
THE HADASSAH EVERYDAY COOKBOOK: Daily Meals for the Contemporary Jewish Kitchen (Universe, $34.95)
Inspired by the produce at your local farmers’ market? Join Leah Koenig, author of The Hadassah Everyday Cookbook: Daily Meals for the Contemporary Jewish Kitchen and former editor-in-chief of the award winning food blog The Jew and the Carrot to learn how to make eco-kosher portobello mushroom burgers and basil two-bean salad.
Click here to enroll. The class is $30. Books will be for sale at the class. If you have questions, please call 202.408.3100.
Wednesday, June 22, 7 p.m.
 House of Sweden
2900 K Street, NW
EVA GABRIELSSON
"THERE ARE THINGS I WANT YOU TO KNOW" ABOUT STIEG LARSSON AND ME (Seven Stories, $23.95)
An evening of literature with Diane Rehm, NPR anchor, and Stieg Larsson's longtime companion, Eva Gabrielsson. Gabrielsson tells a story that no one else can, about the life she shared with Stieg Larsson - the man everyone wants to know more about, and about whom so little is known.
Click here for $10 tickets, which includes a complimentary rooftop reception at 6 p.m.
Tuesday, June 28, 7:30 p.m.
 National Geographic Live
1145, 17th Street NW
CHRISTOPHER HEANEY
CRADLE OF GOLD: The Story of Hiram Bingham, a Real-Life Indiana Jones, and the Search for Machu Picchu (Palgrave/Macmillan, $27)
One hundred years ago this July 24, a young Peruvian boy led Hiram Bingham, a historian from Yale, into the ruins of an ancient Inca citadel on a mountain whose very name today conjures up images of mysterious ruins and past civilizations: Machu Picchu. The revelation of this incredible “lost city” in the pages of National Geographic Magazine captured the imagination of a generation, and also set off a century of debate over the disposition of the artifacts Bingham excavated—and ultimately over the control and interpretation of pre-Columbian history in the Americas.
Click here for tickets. Price Members: $16; General Public: $18
Co-presented with the Embassy of Peru.
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FROM THE CHILDREN AND TEENS' DEPARTMENT
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SUMMER READING DISCOUNTS
Through Labor Day, Politics & Prose offers a 10% discount on books purchased from school summer reading lists. If your school does not provide a summer reading list, check with your public library. All public libraries provide suggested reading lists and we will also honor them with a 10% discount. Just bring your list; we will be glad to help you make selections for an enjoyable summer of reading.
SHARE YOUR FAVORITES
Share your favorite books with us and with each other. Keep track of your reading on our Summer Book Log and submit reviews of your favorites to the Children and Teens’ Department. Every week, starting the week of July 4, we will post a review on our web site. You may submit more than one review; however, we will post no more than one review per person.
CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK
 (20% off through June 22)
It’s just another sticky summer night. Everyone is busy, much too busy to turn off the computer and play an old-fashioned board game. Then, suddenly, the lights go out – all of them. The family gathers in the kitchen to make shadow puppets in the dancing candlelight. Together, they climb up to the roof, where they discover a blanket of stars, then down to the street, where they join a block party under the night sky. With breathtaking artwork and sparse text, John Rocco perfectly captures the magic of a summer BLACKOUT (Hyperion, $16.99). Ages 4-7. –Dana Chidiac
For more recommendations, you can browse our catalog of Children's Department Summer Favorites in .pdf format by clicking here. The printed catalogs are available in the store.
Read about - and buy - more of our favorite books for children and teens by clicking here.
EVENTS FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS
Thursday, June 16
Sarah Dessen - What Happened to Goodbye
at the Bethesda Library, 7400 Arlington Rd, Bethesda, MD
5 p.m. After her parents divorce, McLean is estranged from her mother and moves with her father, living in four different towns in two years. With each uprooting, she recreates herself, even going by different names. Then she meets Dave, someone she can be herself with, and maybe he can help her figure out who that self is. Ages 12-16
Monday, June 20
Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer - Sing to Your Baby
10:30 a.m. Join us for a special Story and Music hour with two-time Grammy award winners Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer. Their latest production is a book and CD combination intended to help new parents learn to Sing to Your Baby (Newsound/Allegro, $19.95). With lively illustrations by James Nocito, this book emphasizes the importance of singing for babies, providing useful tips and the lyrics to eleven easy-to-learn songs.
Friday, June 24
Steven Weinberg and Casey Scieszka - To Timbuktu
7 p.m. After graduating from college, the authors embark on a two-year adventure, teaching English in China, then traveling through Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Mali. Their travelogue is fresh and humorous; the story of the people they meet and of their own relationship is told in both prose and witty cartoon sketches. Ages 14-18
Saturday, June 25
Alex & Hal Malchow - The Sword of Darrow (Book signing only)
10:30 a.m. Written by a father and his then eight-year-old son who struggled with a learning disability at the time, The Sword of Darrow is a fantasy adventure that shows how even the unlikeliest of heroes can rise up against injustice. Ages 9-12
All customers who purchase this book from Politics & Prose will save 20% off the cover price. This sale applies to both the hardcover and the paperback.
For upcoming events and more from the Children and Teens' Department, click here.
Click here to access the teen blog.
Want to receive our periodic updates about events and news for children and teens at Politics & Prose? Click here to add "Children's & Teens' News and Events" or "Teen Events and News" to your chosen mailing lists!
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MARKDOWN BOOKS
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If you’re visiting art museums this summer, especially those featuring contemporary art, you’ll want to read Sarah Thornton’s fascinating SEVEN DAYS IN THE ART WORLD, a behind-the-scenes look at today’s art business. Thornton, a London-based freelance writer, visited auctions, spoke with curators, observed artists in their studios, and investigated major art-world extravaganzas like the Venice Biennale and the Basel Art Fair. Her reports are through and lively, full of unexpected details about the big names, the big bucks, and the transformation of creativity into commodity. Available in paperback, $5.98.
Witty, erudite, and a master prose stylist, John Banville, Booker Prize-winner for The Sea, takes on the gods in his recent novel, THE INFINITIES. This beautifully written narrative centers on Adam Godley, an aging, possibly moribund, patriarch. As his family gathers, ready to say goodbye, a few of the more mischievous classical deities join them, wreaking gentle havoc with the mortals. While the plot is minimal, Banville’s eloquence and warmth—and perhaps Pan’s sense of fun—breathes life into the characters and illuminates human follies and wisdom. Available in paperback, $5.98.
From “once upon a time” to “happily ever after,” the fairy tale is a timeless genre. To prove it, MY MOTHER SHE KILLED ME, MY FATHER HE ATE ME: Forty New Fairy Tales presents work by contemporary writers in the spirit of the classic tale. Defining “fairy tale” in the broadest terms, writers such as Neil Gaiman, Michael Cunningham, Joyce Carol Oates, and Francine Prose, to name a few of the forty, retell, revise, reprise, and continue the classic plotlines of The Odyssey, Snow White, Bluebeard, Hansel and Gretel, and many more. This collection is truly a delight, offering something to satisfy every imagination. Available in paperback, $5.98.
Click here to shop for more recently acquired remainders.
• Laurie Greer
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MUSIC NEWS
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THE BOOK OF MORMON: Original Broadway Cast Recording (Ghostlight, $17.98) – Last Sunday night, The Book of Mormon took home nine Tony Awards, among them Best Musical. Now you can listen to the musical tale of two young missionaries in Uganda on the original cast album. The book, music and lyrics were written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park), and Robert Lopez (Avenue Q).
Madeleine Peyroux, STANDING ON THE ROOFTOP (EmArcy, $16.98) – People fell in love with Madeleine Peyroux on 2004’s Careless Love. With just a hint of Billie Holiday in her voice and a swinging, behind-the-beat delivery, Peyroux also picked great material to cover. She’s been writing her own songs in the last few years, and that’s what Standing on the Rooftop concentrates on. But there are a few choice covers as well, including Dylan’s “I Threw it All Away,” and Lennon-McCartney’s “Martha My Dear.” Peyroux also has a great band behind her, including Marc Ribot on guitar, Me’shell N’degeobello on bass, and Jenny Scheinman on violin.
Youssou N’Dour, DAKAR-KINGSTON (Decca, $17.98) – Youssou N’Dour’s voice is instantly identifiable and always compelling. On Dakar-Kingston, he leaves the sounds of Senegal behind to pay tribute to Bob Marley, and the sounds of reggae.
Mr. N’Dour will be performing at Lisner Auditorium next Thursday, June 23.
Neil Young & the International Harvesters, A TREASURE (Reprise, $17.98) – In 1984 and 1985, Neil Young was touring with the International Harvesters, his band loaded with Nashville veterans, including Ben Keith on the pedal steel guitar. A Treasure includes live material from this era, with five unreleased songs, plus favorites like “Are You Ready for the Country?” and the Buffalo Springfield-era, “Flying on the Ground is Wrong.”
Pat Metheny, WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT (Nonesuch, $17.98) – Several years ago, Pat Metheny recorded One Quiet Night, a solo album on an acoustic baritone guitar. His follow-up is full of versions of pop songs that Metheny grew up with: “The Sounds of Silence,” “Alfie,” “The Girl from Ipanema,” “Betcha by Golly Wow,” plus lots of others. It’s a quiet, cool-out album of favorites.
Click here for news and reviews. Please call us at 202-364-1919 or email me at agoldinger@politics-prose.com to order these CDs.
• András Goldinger
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BOOK GROUPS
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Thursday, June 16, 7:30 p.m.
Veterans Book Group
Kill or Capture, by Matthew Alexander
Postponed two weeks until June 30
Sunday, June 19, 6 p.m.
Spirituality Book Group
The Jew in the Lotus by Roger Kamenetz
Monday, June 20, 7:30 p.m.
Legacies of American Exceptionalism Bookgroup
Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
Tuesday, June 21, 7:30 p.m.
Spanish Language Book Group
El dinero del diablo par Pedro Angel Palou
Wednesday, June 22, 7:30 p.m.
Graphic Novel Book Group
Duncan the Wonder Dog by Adam Hine
Thursday, June 23, 7:30 p.m.
Fascinating History Book Group
Truman by David McCullough (continued)
Click here to learn more about participating in these or other Politics & Prose book groups.
If you want to receive our monthly email updates about suggestions for private book groups as well as book groups at Politics & Prose, click here to add "Monthly Book Group Recommendations and News" to your chosen mailing lists!
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NEWS FROM THE COFFEEHOUSE
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JUNE PHOTO SHOW
Rick Crockett’s photographic exhibition “Tidal Ways” is an ongoing series which captures and chronicles accidental artistry which the sea creates as it interacts with natural elements along North American coastlines and forms a Rorschach test etched into a canvas of sand.
Click here for more news from the Modern Times blog or follow them on Twitter.
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