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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, July 14, 7 p.m.
John A. Farrell - Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned
A journalist, biographer of Tip O’Neill and now senior writer for The Center for Public Integrity, Farrell draws on unpublished documents to examine the darker side of the great defense attorney. Famous for his role in the Scopes “Monkey Trial” and his advocacy on behalf of workers and blacks, Darrow also faced charges of bribing a jury; meanwhile, his personal life was riddled with misjudgments concerning women and money.
Friday, July 15, 7 p.m.
David Willman - The Mirage Man: Bruce Ivins, the Anthrax Attacks, and America's Rush to War
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist tells the story of the 2001 anthrax killings as several intertwined stories. There was the search for the perpetrator, which resulted in a false accusation before the true culprit was found. Then there were the media and government takes on the incidents, framing them as a second wave of terror following 9/11 and as another justification for war in Iraq.
Saturday, July 16, 1 p.m.
Maya Soetoro-Ng - Ladder to the Moon
When Suhaila asks her mother about her late Grandma Annie, her grandmother herself responds, lowering a ladder from the moon so her granddaughter can climb up for a visit. The author wrote this warm tale about embracing the world as a tribute to her mother, Ann Dunham, who was also the mother of President Barack Obama. Ages 4-7
Saturday, July 16, 6 p.m.
Christopher Sten - Literary Capital: A Washington Reader
Whether in the spotlight for its politics and power-brokers or serving as background for ordinary lives, Washington, D.C. has inspired writers from its earliest days. In this anthology of Washington-based literature, Sten, an English professor at George Washington University, has compiled poetry, letters, memoirs, and fiction by writers from Henry Adams to Gore Vidal, Frederick Douglass to Edward Jones, Walt Whitman to Sterling Brown, and many, many more.
Sunday, July 17, 1 p.m.
Anna North - America Pacifica
In her page-turning debut novel, Anna North, a writer for the popular website Jezebel and an Iowa Writer’s Workshop grad, tells the story of Darcy, a young woman searching for her mother in a frighteningly realized dystopian future.
Sunday, July 17, 5 p.m.
Glenn Carle - The Interrogator: An Education
For Carle, questions about the line between interrogation and torture are not abstract. A long-time CIA agent, he was deployed to a black site overseas to question suspected Al Qaeda operatives. Despite voicing doubts about the operation, he was sent with a high-level detainee into even deeper secrecy. His memoir gives a chilling inside look at the darkest side of the U.S. war on terror.
Monday, July 18, 7 p.m.
Christian Parenti - Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence
Climate change is bringing with it new kinds of humanitarian crises and state failures, Parenti argues. A contributing editor at The Nation and author of books including Lockdown America, Parenti surveys struggling nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and warns the West against practicing “climate fascism” by using these regions as staging grounds for open-ended counterinsurgency measures.
Tuesday, July 19, 7 p.m.
Nick Gillespie & Matt Welch - The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America
The authors, journalists and editors—Gillespie for Reason.tv and Welch for Reason magazine—present their case for bringing America’s 18th-century political system up to date. Their manifesto for libertarian principles includes profiles of libertarian thinkers and activists and a detailed critique of the two major political parties.
Wednesday, July 20, 7 p.m.
Peter Tomsen - The Wars of Afghanistan: Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the Failures of Great Powers
From 1989 to 1992 Tomsen served as ambassador and special envoy to Afghanistan. Combining his experience with extensive research, he relates the country’s history as the “shatter zone” for foreign incursions and shows how the U.S. is the latest in a long string of nations to gravely misunderstand Afghanistan’s politics, power struggles, and culture and to underestimate the challenge of waging war there.
Thursday, July 21, 7 p.m.
Cameron McWhirter - Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America
From April to November 1919, a wave of racial violence and lynchings swept the country, from the South to Chicago and Washington D.C. In his first book, McWhirter, a Wall Street Journal reporter, investigates the scenes of unrest, profiling those involved on both sides, and finding in these events the roots of the later civil rights movement.
Friday, July 22, 7 p.m.
Dorothy Wickenden - Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West
Wickenden’s pioneer story follows two Smith graduates (one the author’s grandmother) who headed out to tiny Elkhead, Colorado, in 1916. Eschewing high society for a community of homesteaders and a rough-hewn schoolhouse, the women faced blizzards, ruffians, and illness, but persevered, preserving their experiences in the letters home that richly illuminate this book.
Saturday, July 23, 3 p.m.
Sandra Beasley - Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life
This memoir from the award-winning poet chronicles Beasley’s life-long allergies to—just about everything. A partial list of what she must avoid includes dairy, soy, beef, shrimp, cucumbers, and mustard. Thriving despite the constant threats, Beasley tells her story with wit and humor, examines the science of allergies, and offers advice to fellow sufferers.
Sunday, July 24, 5 p.m.
Tom Carson - Daisy Buchanan's Daughter
GQ’s “The Critic” and author of Gilligan’s Wake, Carson in his third novel lets one Pamela Buchanan Murphy Gerson Cadwaller talk about her life, loves, and exploits from the vantage point of her 86th birthday. Just a few of the highlights: her experience as a war reporter on Omaha beach, stepping out with Marlene Dietrich, and comforting LBJ when events went against him.
NEW: an event just added to the calendar!
Thursday, July 28, 7 p.m.
Jason Zinoman - Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror
Through a combination of Zinoman’s critic’s eye and dogged reporting, Shock Value looks in depth at the genre of the modern horror film from the years roughly between 1968 and 1979, when a handful of outcasts and oddballs revolutionized the industry.
NOTE: Jason’s event will feature a screening of two rarely seen short films, Bloodbath (directed by Dan O'Bannon) and Foster's Release (by Terrence Winkless, starring O'Bannon). Both movies are from the USC Film School in the late 60s, a fertile time for genre movies. The screening will follow the Q&A, and last 25 minutes.
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The dog days of summer have arrived in Washington, but not at Politics & Prose! We have already had a tremendous lineup of author events in July, and are excited to host more stellar fiction and non-fiction writers in coming days. Please join us for these events covering topics political, historical, literary, and philosophical. 
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