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Click here for our events calendar to preview upcoming events through the end of September.
Members always save 20% on author event books and titles included in other special promotions. Click here to register!
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Thursday, August 25
7 p.m. Warren Bernard
Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising (Fantagraphics, $28.99)
Monday, August 29
7 p.m. Scrabble Night with Stefan Fatsis
Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players (10th Anniversary Edition) (Penguin, $16)
Tuesday, August 30
7 p.m. James Boice
The Good And The Ghastly: A Novel (Scribner, $25)
Wednesday, August 31
7 p.m. Drew Magary
The Postmortal: A Novel (Penguin. $15)
Thursday, September 1
7 p.m. Amy Waldman
The Submission: A Novel (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26)
Monday, September 5 - Labor Day - No Event
Tuesday, September 6
7 p.m. Hisham Matar
Anatomy of a Disappearance (Dial, $22)
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Wednesday, September 7
7 p.m. Dana Priest and William M. Arkin
Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State (Little, Brown, $27.99)
Thursday, September 8
7 p.m. Tom Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum
That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28)
at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
Friday, September 9
7 p.m. Jim Woodring
Congress of the Animals (Fantagraphics, $19.99)
Saturday, September 10
1 p.m. David W. Blight
American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era (Belknap, $27.95)
6 p.m. Eric Schmitt & Thom Shanker
Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America's Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda (Times, $27)
Sunday, September 11
1 p.m. Charles Kurzman
The Missing Martyrs: Why There Are So Few Muslim Terrorists (Oxford Univ., $24.95)
5 p.m. Charles C. Mann
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created (Knopf, $30.50)
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The Scoop from Brad & Lissa
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BACK TO SCHOOL
 Along with snow days, kids in our area are probably now hoping for earthquake days, given the brief closure of DC schools after the quake on August 23. Earthquakes notwithstanding, our suburban districts and independent schools should all be in full swing within the next two weeks. And as the school year gets underway, we want to remind students, teachers, administrators, librarians, and parents that we have a world-class children’s department staffed by expert booksellers prepared to help with individual requests, as well as ideas for classrooms and school libraries.
Discounts for Elementary and Secondary School Teachers
Whether you have signed up in the past or are new to Politics and Prose, please bring your valid 2011/2012 school ID, or a school pay stub, to the store to qualify for teacher discounts. By signing up, you will receive 20 percent off books for your classroom and 10 percent off books for personal use.
A few upcoming programs for our school communities to look forward to:
Educators’ Open House – Wednesday, September 21 from 4 to 6 p.m.
This is an opportunity for elementary and secondary school educators to meet our staff, learn about new titles and upcoming author events, and receive coupons for deals at neighboring restaurants. You can also join our tote bag raffle! Light refreshments will be served.
Teen Book Group
Our Teen Book Group meets the fourth Sunday of each month at 3:30 p.m. The first meeting will be Sunday, September 25. Stay tuned for more information about opportunities for teens to review books, blog, contribute ideas, and convey their literary passions to their peers (and their adult friends, too).
Monthly Librarians’ Nights
School and public librarians are invited to P&P on the third Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. to hear about new titles and talk about books with our staff. Please join us!
WELCOME BACK, UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Politics & Prose is lucky to be located near many fine universities. Not far to our west is American University, and to the south the University of the District of Columbia and Howard University Law School. We invite students from those schools and beyond – Georgetown, George Washington, Catholic, Trinity, Howard, Gallaudet, as well as colleges in Maryland and Virginia – to explore our aisles, get to know our booksellers, and attend our author events. We carry many fiction and non-fiction titles commonly used in college courses and are happy to help you find specific editions if necessary.
We are also pleased to announce our first Discount Program for University Students.
Bring a valid student ID from the current school year and sign up at the store, and you will qualify for a 15 percent discount on nearly all of our titles.
PARDON OUR DUST
Those of you who ventured into the fiction room earlier this week probably noticed some minor construction going on, and we apologize for the noise - and for the need to move the end-of-the-alphabet fiction titles to other areas for several days. You also may have wondered why we were renovating. Well, it’s our version of a state secret - at least for now - but in the next week or two we’ll be revealing what we plan to put in the space. We’re very excited about it. We think you will be too!
For now, here’s to great books and great reading – a sure-fire antidote to worrying about earthquakes!
Brad and Lissa
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Staff Recommendations of the Week
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As adults and children alike are preparing to return to school, why not learn something new about how our minds function?
If you’re familiar with Jon Ronson (from his previous book The Men Who Stare at Goats, or his contributions to the radio show This American Life) then you know his prose is quirky, droll, and as addictive as caffeine. His latest obsession is The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry (Riverhead, $25.95) — a diagnostic personality exam usually administered to serial killers, but which Ronson seeks to apply to political leaders and CEOs (and occasionally, to himself). What if the 99% of rational humanity is governed by the 1% of psychopaths at the top? Ronson’s quest takes him to maximum-security prisons, asylums, psychology conferences, and to Wall Street. In his hands, the macabre becomes chillingly entertaining.
Much has been written about the Internet’s content, but is the web itself—the format of this information—actually changing the way we think? In The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains (W.W. Norton, $15.95), a recent finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Nicholas Carr elegantly explores how the Internet alters the physical functioning of our brains, and examines what this means for our culture. He argues that, for the first time, the “linear, literary mind” that has defined most of our history is being replaced by something else. Whether Carr is writing on neuroscience, history, or cultural criticism, The Shallows is a necessary, fascinating study.
Elizabeth Sher
REMINDER - P&P members save 20% on these and other staff recommended titles from our 2011 Summer Newsletter through Labor Day.
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Five New Classes Announced
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We will send a separate email containing the full descriptions.
Click here - or click the title links below - to learn more about these classes.
Poetry with a Side of Fries - Poetry Workshop
Angela Maria Williams
Six Wednesdays, October 5 - November 9, 6 - 8:30 p.m.
$150 ($140 members)
Teen Poetry Workshop
Angela Maria Williams
Three Sundays, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
September 25: Discover the Story Within: Narrative Poetry
October 30: Speak Out!: The Art of Performance Poetry
November 20: Rhyme & Reason: Fun With Form Poetry
$75 ($70 for members)
The Graphic Memoir
Janice Shapiro
Monday, October 3, 7 - 9:30 p.m.
$40 ($35 members)
Othello: An Introduction and Analysis
Christopher Griffin
Two Fridays, October 28 and November 4, 6 - 8 p.m.
$45 ($40 members)
Reading and Writing the Unreliable Narrator
Katharine Weber
Tuesday, December 6, two sessions
Reading the Unreliable Narrator, 10 a.m. - noon
Writing the Unreliable Narrator, 2 - 4 p.m.
$40 per session ($35 members), $70 for both ($65 members)
Click here to learn more about these classes and see our other class offerings.
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Discounted tickets to Fahrenheit 451 at Round House Theatre
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Round House Theatre Bethesda opens its season with Ray Bradbury’s stage adaptation of his sci-fi masterpiece Fahrenheit 451. This multimedia production is directed by legendary theatre director Sharon Ott and runs September 7 – October 9, 2011.
Round House has a special deal for patrons of Politics & Prose. Order tickets for performances between Sept. 7 – 16 or Oct. 6 – 9 and save $10 per seat when ordering full priced tickets in the center orchestra or center balcony sections. Call Round House at 240-644-1100 and mention the “Politics & Prose Special”. Click here for info about the play.
Discounts may not be combined or applied to previously purchased tickets. Not valid on $10/$15 tickets for age 30 & under.
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eBooks of the Week
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99 cent sale on 20 Harper Perennial eBooks
Do you enjoy offbeat humor, sharp dialogue and well-crafted prose? These 20 contemporary, young novelists and memoirists are adept at exposing the tragic, the comic, and the darkly poignant underside of life. Other authors love to recommend these authors, and Harper Perennial makes it easy to try eBooks! Here's a sample:
Diary of a Very Bad Year: Confessions of an Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager (HarperPerennial / eBook, $0.99) by N+1, Keith Gessen
“A highly readable refresher on the financial crisis.” - The Wall Street Journal
“HFM does a good job of teaching the reader how mortgage-backed paper, money-market funds, and credit-default swaps work, while offering up juicier tidbits about the ethics and legalities of his sector.” - Time Out New York
“Diary of a Very Bad Year is a rarity: a book on modern finance that’s both extraordinarily thoughtful and enormously entertaining.” - James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of Crowds (Anchor, $15 pb/ $9 eBook)
Click here to browse more books featured in this limited-time offer from Harper Perennial.
Unbridled Book for Sale
Do you remember our friends at Unbridled Books who offered the 25-cent eBook sale? Building on the success of their 25 eBooks for 25 cents promotion, they are making low-priced eBook editions of select titles available for a short time only.
You Believers by Jane Bradley (Unbridled, hardcover $25.95 / special eBook price $2.79 through August 27)
“You Believers examines the anatomy of a horrific crime from every angle: the victim, the perpetrator, the family members left behind, and the tenacious searcher whose job it is to bring closure. Several perfectly pitched Southern narratives weave together to form a strong song of love, loss, and human resilience. A gripping, intense read.” - Jodi Picoult, author of Sing You Home and House Rules
Click here to read an excerpt by using Google Preview.
Next sale book: Hick by Andrea Portes Special, limited-time ebook pricing available from August 29 through September 10.
Click here for more recommended eBooks. (Note that all of these eBooks are also available as print books. Amazing!) |
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Podcast of the Week
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After letting Alice Liddell tell her story in Alice I Have Been, Melanie Benjamin devotes her second historical novel - The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb (Delacorte, $25) - to capturing the life and times of Mercy Lavinia Bump, best known for having been two feet, eight inches tall, and for marrying Charles Stratton, aka Tom Thumb, in 1863. But as this spirited story demonstrates, there was much more to Vinnie than that. Melanie Benjamin spoke at Politics & Prose on August 1, 2011. Listen to the podcast below or click here to listen to the talk and download the mp3.
Click here to listen to - and download - more event recordings available from the Politics & Prose archive.
During the month of an author's appearance, an event title is discounted 20% to Politics & Prose members. By registering their commitment to the store, members support us in bringing these fantastic authors to your community.
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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 September.
Thursday, August 25, 7 p.m.
Warren Bernard
Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising (Fantagraphics, $28.99)
Warren Bernard, the Executive Director of Small Press Expo, looks at work from the 1870s to 1940, documenting how popular cartoon characters figured in advertising campaigns, and how their creators were highly sought-after pitchmen. Click here to view a slideshow of the contents.
A complimentary one-day pass to the Small Press Expo 2011 (September 10-11 in Bethesda, MD) will be available with the purchase of Drawing Power on the night of the event. More information about SPX 2011 at www.spxpo.com.
Monday, August 29, 7 p.m.
Stefan Fatsis
Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players (10th Anniversary Edition) (Penguin, $16 )
& Scrabble Night
Yes, it’s been ten years since Fatsis wrote about the amazing world of competitive scrabble. His book has become a classic and to mark the occasion, Politics and Prose is hosting the second of our occasional Scrabble Nights. Come ready to play!
Tuesday, August 30, 7 p.m.
James Boice
The Good and the Ghastly: A Novel (Scribner, $25)
Junior Alvaraz has risen from street thug to crime-lord, but the mother of one of his victims is determined to bring him down. Boice’s third novel is a classic noir set-up—but with a twist: it’s set in the 34th century, after civilization has come and gone and come again.
Wednesday, August 31, 7 p.m.
Drew Magary
The Postmortal: A Novel (Penguin, $15)
Always wanted to live forever? Magary’s eerily plausible first novel depicts a world in which no one dies from old age. But along with the cure for mortality come myriad social and political problems, from new cults to government euthanasia programs.
Thursday, September 1, 7 p.m.
Amy Waldman
The Submission: A Novel (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26)
Ten years after the 9/11 attacks, Waldman's first novel examines questions of memory and healing. A stricken city holds a contest to decide on a memorial to its victims. But when the winning design is found to have been submitted by an Islamic American, the community is torn apart once more.
Monday, September 5
Labor Day - No Event
Tuesday, September 6, 7 p.m.
Hisham Matar
Anatomy of a Disappearance: A Novel (Dial, $22)
Nuri el-Alfi's father, Kamal, vanishes in Geneva in 1972 but his family is already familiar with dislocation as they had been exiled from an Arab country where Kamal was advisor to the king. Fourteen year old Nuri begins a desperate search, one that propels him toward the truths of his father's elusive life and the treacherous edge of his own adulthood. The second novel by the Libyan author of In the Country of Men, Matar's novel reveals the heartbreaking reality of a family torn apart by the merging of the personal and the political.
Wednesday, September 7, 7 p.m.
Dana Priest and William M. Arkin
Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State (Little, Brown, $27.99)
Since the war on terrorism began, do the many agencies involved in prosecuting it constitute a new “Fourth Branch” of government? The authors, Washington Post journalists specializing in government and foreign affairs, investigate the scope, size, and cost of the country’s security system.
Thursday, September 8, 7 p.m.
Tom Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum
That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28)
at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
600 I Street, NW
Citing globalization, the revolution in information technology, chronic deficits, and America’s pattern of energy consumption as the main threats to the country’s power and prosperity, the authors look to American history for guidance. Friedman, columnist and author of The World is Flat, and Mandelbaum, professor and Director of the American Foreign Policy Program at SAIS, examine key turning points in the nation’s past and focus on the values that have seen us through.
One free ticket will be provided with each purchase of the book. Additional tickets are $12 (or $15 the day of the event).
Friday, September 9, 7 p.m.
Jim Woodring
Congress of the Animals (Fantagraphics, $19.99)
For his second graphic novel, the artist of Weathercraft gives Frank, his long-time short-story protagonist, a more expansive arena, chronicling what ensues when Frank leaves The Unifactor. Escaping by way of an amusement park ride, Frank encounters things he’d never imagined.
Saturday, September 10, 1 p.m.
David W. Blight
American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era (Belknap, $27.95)
1963 marked the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation; in the middle of the Cold War and the civil rights struggle, how did the nation view that landmark? In his history, Blight, author of A Slave No More and Race and Reunion, explores the Civil War legacy as four prominent writers viewed it in the sixties and as it is still evolving today, near the 150th anniversary of that war.
Saturday, September 10, 6 p.m.
Eric Schmitt & Thom Shanker
Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America's Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda (Times, $27)
National security correspondents for The New York Times, the authors recount the evolution of America’s struggle against Al Qaeda from the initial “war on terror” to a more nuanced approach. Using Cold War deterrence strategy, for instance, military, intelligence, and security analysts have fashioned new ways to restrict the terrorists’ range of operations.
Sunday, September 11, 1 p.m.
Charles Kurzman
The Missing Martyrs: Why There Are So Few Muslim Terrorists (Oxford Univ., $24.95)
Too often figured as angry jihadists eager to do battle with the West, the popular image of Muslims is seriously at odds with reality, Kurzman argues. Using statistics (there are over a billion Muslims in the world today, yet the number of Muslim terrorists is small) and pointing to militants' publications and websites, Kurzman shows that terrorism is in fact marginal in the Muslim world.
Sunday, September 11, 5 p.m.
Charles C. Mann
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created (Knopf, $30.50)
The author of the best-selling 1491, the story of pre-Colombian America, here looks at the enormous impact of the European arrival in the New World. The ramifications were global: while trade altered the balance of power and wealth among nations, the Colombian Exchange, often unknowingly, transferred species of plants and animals from one place to another, radically changing lives and landscapes.
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Ticketed Events
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Thursday, September 8, 7 p.m.
 Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum
That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $28)
Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
600 I Street, NW
Metro: Gallery Place/ Chinatown
Citing globalization, the revolution in information technology, chronic deficits, and America’s pattern of energy consumption as the main threats to the country’s power and prosperity, the authors look to American history for guidance. Friedman, columnist and author of The World is Flat, and Mandelbaum, professor and director of the American Foreign Policy Program at SAIS, examine key turning points in the nation’s past and focus on the values that have seen us through.
One free ticket will be provided with each purchase of this book. Additional tickets are $12 (or $15 the day of the event). Prepayment is required to secure reservations. Books and tickets cannot be held without a confirmed payment. Pre-ordered books and tickets will be available for pickup at P&P on September 5, 6, or 7 or at the event at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue on September 8.
Monday, September 26, 7 p.m.
 Caroline Kennedy and Michael Beschloss
Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy (Hyperion, $60)
GW Lisner Auditorium
21st & H Streets, NW
Metro: Foggy Bottom/GWU
In March 1964 Jacqueline Kennedy sat down with Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and the two recorded a series of interviews, which were then sealed and deposited in the JFK Library. The eight-and-a-half hours of intimate conversation about John F. Kennedy’s life and work are now available on CD and in printed transcript. To mark this special occasion, Caroline Kennedy, historian Michael Beschloss, and others will participate in a panel discussion on the JFK legacy, presented in conjunction with The George Washington University.
Two free tickets will be provided with each purchase of the book from Politics & Prose. Additional tickets are $15 (or $20 the day of the event). Books and tickets may be picked up at P&P after September 14 or at the event at GW Lisner Auditorium on September 26.
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P&P Customers Are Also Invited To . . .
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Politics & Prose sells books at 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.
Monday, September 12, 9 a.m. - 11 a.m.
 Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center Amphitheater
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Metro Accessible: Metro Center and Federal Triangle
Dr. Paul Farmer
Haiti after the Earthquake (PublicAffairs, $27.99)
On January 12, 2010, a massive earthquake laid waste to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, killing hundreds of thousands of people. In this vivid narrative, Farmer describes the incredible suffering--and resilience--that he encountered in Haiti. Having worked in the country for nearly thirty years, he skillfully explores the profound economic and social injustices that made Haiti so vulnerable to the earthquake--the very issues that make it an "unnatural disaster".
Co-founder of Partners in Health, Dr. Farmer, with his colleagues, has pioneered novel, community-based treatment strategies that demonstrate the delivery of high-quality health care in resource-poor settings. He has written extensively on health, human rights, and the consequences of social inequality.
Click here to listen to Partners in Health Summer Reading Series focused on Haiti after the Earthquake.
Click here for tickets ($50/$30/$22.50) and more information.
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From the Children and Teens' Department
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Wednesday, September 21, 4 - 6 p.m.
Join the Politics & Prose Children and Teens’ Department for an Educators’ Open House for Teachers and Librarians and let us help you plan for fall.
- Learn about new titles and get thoughtful recommendations
- Find out about author events
- Sign up for educator email updates
- Get 20% off all books during the open house (with a 2011/12 school ID)
- Enter a tote-bag raffle
- Enjoy light refreshments and conversation
- Receive coupons for special deals at neighboring restaurants
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.
Children's Book of the Week
(20% off through August 31)
What could be better than having an enthusiastic puppy in your elementary school class? Having Bailey (Scholastic, $16.99) around makes learning more fun for everyone. Not only is he a dog that literally eats his own homework, but he also fills his water dish at the fountain, howls through music class, and is great at digging holes for plants in the school garden. Harry Bliss renders this day in Bailey’s life with cheerful illustrations and clever dialogue. This imaginative tale is a perfect read-aloud for the first day of school. Ages 4-6. Amy Kane
Recommendations for Teens
Shooting Kabul, by N.H. Senzai (Simon and Schuster, $6.99) When Fadi’s family fled Afghanistan for the U.S., his little sister was left behind. He hopes winning a photography contest will give him a chance to return and rescue her.
Somebody Everybody Listens To, by Suzanne Supplee (Speak, $8.99) After graduating high school, Retta leaves her small town for Nashville with the hope of becoming a country star.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by David Levithan and John Green (Speak, $8.99) The lives of two boys with the same name become intertwined as their mutual friend orchestrates an epic musical production based on his life.
Strings Attached, by Judy Blundell (Scholastic Press, $17.99) Kit comes to NYC in 1950 with big dreams of being a dancer. When her boyfriend’s father gives her a job at a dance club she gets caught up in mob activity.
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.
To receive periodic updates about events and news for children and teens at Politics & Prose, click here to add "Children & Teens' News and Events" or "Teen Events and News" to your mailing lists!
Story Hour
 Story hour will resume in the Children and Teens' Department on Monday, September 12 at 10:30 a.m., with BearSong and his guitar. Please join us each week for storytelling and music for children from birth to 5 years old.
We will also host some special guests for story hour.
On September 19, performers from Isabella and Ferdinand Spanish Language Adventures will perform music from their new CD, Olé and Play ($19.99). This event will be held in Spanish.
On October 3, Grammy Award winning artists Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer will entertain us with a variety of musical instruments as they share their new book, Sing to Your Baby (Community Music, $19.95).
Sign up here to receive email updates about the Politics & Prose story hour. We will inform you of special story hours, changes or cancellations.
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Markdown Books
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David Grossman’s To The End of the Land focuses on the life of one woman, yet tells the wider story of the Middle East, its wars and dreams of peace. Ora, a middle-aged mother of an Israeli soldier, is stunned when her son, about to finish his military service and come home, instead is sent to fight on a new battle front. To avoid news, good or bad, she sets off on a long hike in the Galilee. She is accompanied by her old friend Avram, still suffering from the trauma of his wounding and capture in the Yom Kippur War. Together the two relive the past, and the novel shows how inextricably their personal lives are tangled with history. This is both an affecting novel of love and family and a powerful statement about war. Available in paperback, $4.98.
Unless you’re a connoisseur of nightmares, The Bedside Book of Beasts: A Wildlfe Miscellany, might seem an odd choice for bedtime reading. But Graeme Gibson, who brought us The Bedside Book of Birds, has again chosen tales, myths, legends, and facts that fascinate and delight. Focusing on wild animals, this anthology presents work by some of the world’s best writers, in all sorts of genres. Orwell and his elephant are here, as is the Bible’s Leviathan, Arthur Conan Doyle tracking a plesiosaurus, Murakami describing a woodland dancer, and much, much more, from fiction, diaries, and travelogues. Each entry is amply illustrated with color plates of ancient artifacts, paintings, and photos. A gorgeous anthology of art and words. Available in hardcover, $5.98.
Emily Dickinson left a daunting literary oeuvre, and as the letters quoted in Brenda Wineapple’s White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson show, she was equally enigmatic in person. Higginson, a successful writer, invited correspondence from young hopefuls. Dickinson responded, sent him some poems, and from 1862 until 1886 they exchanged letters, meeting only once. Wineapple interweaves letters, poems, and literary criticism for this fascinating dual biography, which is also a unique history of the America of the time, juxtaposing Dickinson’s home-bound perspective with Higginson’s public persona. While she wrote at home, he was an active abolitionist and served as commander of the first Union regiment of black soldiers. Available in hardcover, $5.98.
Click here to shop for more recently acquired remainders.
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Music News
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Voices
Barbra Streisand
What Matters Most: Barbra Streisand Sings the Lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman (Columbia, $13.98)
Barbara Streisand has had a long and very successful career singing the lyrics of the husband-and-wife team of Alan and Marilyn Bergman (“The Way We Were” and “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” are at the top of the list). What Matters Most is a showcase of new recordings of some more of the Bergmans’s songs, such as “Nice ’n’ Easy,” “I’ll Never Say Goodbye,” and “The Windmills of Your Mind,” in lush arrangements by William Ross and Patrick Williams.
Steve Cropper
Dedicated: A Salute to the 5 Royales (429 Records, $15.98)
Steve Cropper was the guitarist in Booker T and the MGs, the house band of Stax Records. He’s responsible for a score of killer guitar hooks, and hit songs for Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and many others. An early inspiration for Cropper was guitarist and songwriter Lowman Pauling, leader of the early 1950s rhythm-and-blues and doo-wop pioneers, the 5 Royales. His new album brings together powerful singers—B.B. King, Lucinda Williams, Bettye LaVette, Steve Winwood, Sharon Jones, Delbert McClinton—for new takes on this classic material.
Bill Monroe Centennial Celebration: A Classic Bluegrass Celebration (Rounder, 2 CDs, $18.98)
Any occasion to celebrate the songs and the hard-driving sound of Bill Monroe, the “father of bluegrass,” is a happy one. To commemorate the centennial of Monroe’s birth (September 13), Rounder Records has assembled a compilation from their stars, old and new including the Bluegrass Album Band (a super-group led by Tony Rice on guitar and vocals, J.D. Crowe on banjo, and Doyle Lawson on mandolin and vocals); The Johnson Mountain Boys; the Nashville Bluegrass Band; Ricky Scaggs; and Claire Lynch.
Click here for more 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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P&P's book groups meet monthly and are free and open to the public.
Thursday, August 25, 7:30 p.m.
Fascinating History Book Group
Paradise of Cities: Venice in the Nineteenth Century, by John Julius Norwich
September 22 selection: The First Tycoon, by T.J. Stiles
Thursday, September 1, 7:30 p.m.
Capital James Joyce Book Group
Purgatorio (Canto 28) by Dante, Musa translation
Monday, September 5, 7:30 p.m.
Classics Book Group
No Meeting due to Labor Day
October 3 selection: 16 Satires, by Juvenal
Click here to learn more about participating in these or other Politics & Prose book groups.
To receive monthly 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 mailing lists!
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