Ridgefield native Kevin Peraino will discuss his book Lincoln in the World: The Making of a Statesman and the Dawn of American Power (Crown Publishers, October 29, 2013).

"Kevin Peraino is a major new historical talent, combining the sensibility of a gifted writer and storyteller with a keen analytic intelligence. You may think you know all you need to know about Abraham Lincoln, but in this lucid and compelling new book, you will discover that you've only heard half the story. Here is the Lincoln who looked abroad, struggling with, and ultimately shaping, America's role in the world." - Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Thomas Jefferson

Kevin Peraino spent a decade at Newsweek, was a finalist for the Livingston Award for his foreign-affairs reporting, and who was part of the team that won a National Magazine Award for its coverage of the 2004 presidential campaign.  He has long been fascinated by foreign affairs, witnessing it at the street level as he traveled throughout the world from Syria to Libya to Sudan. As he began studying the traditions of American foreign policy, he came to see strong similarities between our modern global arena and the Age of Lincoln. While many Americans share the view that, "all we really need to know about Lincoln we learned in kindergarten," Peraino argues that there is still much to be learned from the Great Emancipator.

 

This program is co-sponsored by Books on the Common.