| Key | Imgs | Short Description |
|---|
 2011_DC_Blur_110117 | 85 | Politics & Prose -- Bill Kovach And Tom Rosenstiel ("Blur")
Bill Kovach And Tom Rosenstiel - Blur:
In their primer for consumers of information in the age of blogs and twitters, the authors, both experienced journalists, argue that readers must be editors, and they offer tips on fact-checking, prioritizing, and other skills needed to navigate the proliferating... |
| 2011_DC_Reisman_110707 | 64 | Politics & Prose -- Bob Riesman ("I Feel So Good")
Bob Riesman - I Feel So Good:
Riesman’s life of Big Bill Broonzy (1903–1958) encompasses the bluesman’s many pivotal roles. From melding the traditional, rural blues of his native Arkansas Delta region with the urban sound in 1930s Chicago, to influencing the resurgence of folk music after World War II... |
| 2011_DC_Mann_110911 | 39 | Politics & Prose -- Charles C. Mann ("1493")
Charles C. Mann - 1493:
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... |
| 2011_DC_Flood_111105 | 56 | Politics & Prose -- Charles Flood ("Grant's Final Victory")
Charles Flood - Grant's Final Victory:
Grant’s Memoirs were an instant bestseller in 1885, and are still valued for their literary and historic merit. Gravely ill when he wrote, Grant died just four days after completing the manuscript. Flood’s moving account of Grant’s last years is as illuminating... |
| 2011_DC_Matthews_111129 | 66 | Politics & Prose -- Chris Matthews ("Jack Kennedy")
Chris Matthews - Jack Kennedy:
The highlights of JFK’s life are well known. In his recounting of Kennedy’s family life, his PT boat rescue, his stellar rise in politics, Matthews draws on interviews with Kennedy’s associates, oral histories, and a range of other documents to show how Kennedy really... |
| 2011_DC_Lusane_110219 | 66 | Politics & Prose -- Clarence Lusane ("Black History Of The White House")
Clarence Lusane - The Black History Of The White House:
Lusane’s chronicle of the White House is also the story of the struggle for civil rights in America. A professor at American University and former editor of Black Political Agenda, Lusane recounts the stories of the black laborers who built the... |
| 2011_DC_Rasmussen_110115 | 77 | Politics & Prose -- Daniel Rasmussen ("American Uprising")
Daniel Rasmussen - American Uprising:
The largest slave rebellion in American history took place in New Orleans in January 1811. Of 500 armed slaves, more than 100 were killed by federal troops and French planters, after which news of the incident was suppressed. Rasmussen’s extensive research into the... |
| 2011_DC_Ackerman_110410 | 44 | Politics & Prose -- Diane Ackerman ("One Hundred Names for Love")
Diane Ackerman - One Hundred Names for Love:
In 2005 Ackerman’s husband, the British writer Paul West, suffered a stroke that severely damaged the language centers in his brain. She encouraged him to record his experience in The Shadow Factory, and now adds her own powerful and moving memoir from the... |
| 2011_DC_Waller_110213 | 67 | Politics & Prose -- Douglas Waller ("Wild Bill Donovan")
Douglas Waller - Wild Bill Donovan:
Called “Wild Bill” for his battlefield bravado in World War I, Donovan led the Office of Strategic Services during the Second World War, introducing covert methods of warfare that became the stuff of spy legends. Separating the man from the myths, Waller, author of A... |
| 2011_DC_Hurricane_110215 | 78 | Politics & Prose -- Dr. Rubin Carter and Ken Klonsky ("Eye Of The Hurricane")
Dr. Rubin Carter and Ken Klonsky - The Eye Of The Hurricane:
Dr. Carter, once a boxing champion, was wrongfully convicted of murder and served nineteen years in prison. His story has been told in the film The Hurricane; now he speaks for himself. Working with Klonsky, a journalist and prisoners’... |
| 2011_DC_Showalter_110127 | 43 | Politics & Prose -- Elaine Showalter ("The Vintage Book Of American Women Writers")
Elaine Showalter - The Vintage Book Of American Women Writers:
Showalter introduced readers to dozens of heretofore overlooked literary figures in A Jury of her Peers, her comprehensive study of women writers. Now she has edited a rich selection of poetry and fiction by American women from Anne... |
| 2011_DC_Counterstrike_110910 | 43 | Politics & Prose -- Eric Schmitt & Thom Shanker ("Counterstrike")
Eric Schmitt & Thom Shanker: Counterstrike:
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,... |
| 2011_DC_Fukuyama_110425 | 59 | Politics & Prose -- Francis Fukuyama ("The Origins Of Political Order")
Francis Fukuyama: The Origins Of Political Order
The first of a projected two-volume study of state formation, the latest work from the author of the much-discussed End of History takes a rich, multidisciplinary approach, examining how politics and government are grounded in geography, biology,... |
| 2011_DC_Graff_110416 | 51 | Politics & Prose -- Garrett M. Graff ("The Threat Matrix")
The age of terrorism has introduced new kinds of threats that call for new strategies to keep America secure. In his portrait of today’s FBI, Graff, the editor-in-chief of The Washingtonian, draws on extensive interviews and once-secret documents to present a new generation of agents.
The speaker was... |
| 2011_DC_Close_110816 | 115 | Politics & Prose -- Jennifer Close ("Girls In White Dresses")
Jennifer Close - Girls In White Dresses:
Close’s debut fiction chronicles the ups and downs, the heartaches and headaches, of three young women. Getting by with a little help from each other, Isabella, Mary, and Lauren work at jobs they feel ambivalent about and fall in love with men they know they... |
| 2011_DC_Marlantes_110919 | 52 | Politics & Prose -- Karl Marlantes ("What It's Like To Go To War")
Karl Marlantes - What It's Like To Go To War:
What Marlantes experienced in Vietnam as a twenty-three-year-old lieutenant of a platoon of forty marines has haunted him since 1969. He turned his tour of duty into the acclaimed novel Matterhorn, and in his first book of nonfiction he continues his... |
| 2011_DC_FoggyBk_110108 | 36 | Politics & Prose -- Matthew Gilmore And Joshua Olsen ("Foggy Bottom And The West End In Vintage Images")
Matthew Gilmore And Joshua Olsen - Foggy Bottom And The West End In Vintage Images:
With period photographs and thoroughly researched text, the authors - both associated with the area’s history discussion list and web site H-DC - recreate the factories, breweries, and gasworks that once stood where... |
| 2011_DC_Galifianakis_110211 | 243 | Politics & Prose -- Nick Galifianakis ("If You Loved Me You'd Think This Was Cute")
Nick Galifianakis - If You Loved Me You'd Think This Was Cute:
Since 1997 Galifianakis has drawn the cartoons for the nationally syndicated advice column by Carolyn Hax, a selection of which appeared in the 2001 book, Tell Me About It: Lying, Sulking, Getting Fat ... and 56 Other Things NOT to Do While... |
| 2011_DC_Starr_111029 | 46 | Politics & Prose -- Paul Starr ("Remedy And Reaction")
Paul Starr - Remedy And Reaction:
Why is America’s health-care system so difficult to reform? In his history of recent health-care battles, Starr offers both an insider’s perspective, drawing on his experience as a senior advisor on health care policy to President Clinton, as well as that of a... |
| 2011_DC_Spousonomics_110403 | 14 | Politics & Prose -- Paula Szuchman & Jenny Anderson ("Spousonomics")
Paula Szuchman & Jenny Anderson - Spousonomics:
Applying economic theory to marital relations, the authors examine marriage in terms of loss- aversion, division of labor, information asymmetry, and the like to help couples resolve the daily trials of togetherness. Letting theory play out in case... |
| 2011_DC_Bergen_110116 | 57 | Politics & Prose -- Peter Bergen ("The Longest War")
Peter Bergen - The Longest War:
CNN national security analyst and author of The Osama bin Laden I Know, Bergen is one of the foremost experts about al-Qaeda. Working from long-term knowledge of the region and extensive interviews with combatants, he argues here that mainstream Islam, not Western force,... |
| 2011_DC_Massie_111128 | 37 | Politics & Prose -- Robert K. Massie ("Catherine The Great")
Robert K. Massie - Catherine The Great:
With award-winning biographies of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and the Romanovs already under his belt, Massie is a natural to tell the story of Catherine (1729-1796). And it’s a remarkable story: born to a minor noble family in Germany, she was only... |
| 2011_DC_Afraid_110212 | 87 | Politics & Prose -- Ron Collins and Sam Chaltain ("We Must Not Be Afraid To Be Free")
Ron Collins and Sam Chaltain - We Must Not Be Afraid To Be Free:
This history of free speech in America by Collins, a professor at the Washington College of Law, and Chaltain, former national director of the Forum for Education and Democracy, draws its title from a statement by Justice Hugo Black, who... |
| 2011_DC_Reagan_110125 | 64 | Politics & Prose -- Ron Reagan ("My Father At 100")
Ron Reagan - My Father At 100:
Were he still alive, President Reagan would turn 100 on February 6, 2011. To mark the centennial, his son, a political commentator for MSNBC and host of his own radio show, has written an intimate memoir about the father he knew—and the one he didn’t. This moving... |
| 2011_DC_Stewart_110815 | 50 | Politics & Prose -- Rory Stewart ("Can Intervention Work?")
Rory Stewart - Can Intervention Work?:
Combining first-hand experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, and other regions with a survey of philosophies that have informed state-building, Stewart, author of The Places in Between and King of the Marshes, and co-author Gerald Knaus, founding chairman of... |
| 2011_DC_Prakash_110618 | 119 | Politics & Prose -- Snigdha Prakash ("All The Justice Money Can Buy")
Snigdha Prakash - All The Justice Money Can Buy:
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.
The speaker was... |
| 2011_DC_Isaacson_111201 | 55 | Politics & Prose -- Walter Isaacson ("Steve Jobs")
Walter Isaacson - Steve Jobs:
To his string of bestselling biographies of Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Kissinger, and others, Isaacson now adds the life story of Steve Jobs. Written with the cooperation of its subject, this profile of the inventor, entrepreneur, leader, and visionary, offers a detailed... |
| 2011_DC_Bernard_110825 | 97 | Politics & Prose -- Warren Bernard ("Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising")
Warren Bernard - Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising:
The comic strip has its roots in advertising as well as in art. In the first book-length study of these dual sources, Rick Marschall, founder of Nemo: The Classic Comics Library, and Warren Bernard, a prolific commentator on and... |
| 2011_DC_Kennedy_110926 | 27 | Politics & Prose @ GWU Lisner -- Caroline Kennedy & Michael Beschloss ("Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations")
Caroline Kennedy & Michael Beschloss - Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations On Life With John F. Kennedy:
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... |
| 2011_DC_Bryson_111017 | 68 | Politics & Prose @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue -- Bill Bryson ("At Home")
Bill Bryson: Join us for an evening in celebration of the paperback release of At Home: A Short History of Private Life.
Bill Bryson and his family live in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. One day, he began to consider how little he knew... |
| 2011_DC_McCullough_110602 | 108 | Politics & Prose @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue -- David McCullough ("Greater Journey")
The Greater Journey is the enthralling—and until now, untold—story of American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set off for Paris between 1830 and 1900. After risking the hazardous journey across the Atlantic, these Americans embarked on a greater... |
| 2011_DC_Abuelaish_110228 | 95 | Politics & Prose @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue -- Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish ("I Shall Not Hate")
Inspiring and heart-breaking, hopeful and horrifying, "I Shall Not Hate" is Dr. Abuelaish's account of his extraordinary life and a portrayal of everyday life in Gaza. The Harvard-trained Palestinian doctor born and raised in the Gaza Strip has been crossing the lines that divide Israelis and... |
| 2011_DC_Brooks_110509 | 85 | Politics & Prose @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue -- Geraldine Brooks ("Caleb's Crossing")
Geraldine Brooks:
Once again, Geraldine Brooks takes a remarkable shard of history and brings it to vivid life. In 1665, a young man from Martha’s Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. The narrator of Caleb’s Crossing, Bethia Mayfield, grows up in Great Harbor amid... |
| 2011_DC_Jacobson_110407 | 75 | Politics & Prose @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue -- Howard Jacobson ("The Finkler Question")
Howard Jacobson: The Finkler Question:
Julian Treslove and Sam Finkler are old school friends. Despite a prickly relationship and very different lives, they've never lost touch with each other, or with their former teacher, Libor Sevcik.
Dining together one night, the men reminisce on a time before... |
| 2011_DC_Eugenides2_111031 | 10 | Politics & Prose @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue -- Jeffrey Eugenides ("Marriage Plot") -- Pictures taken during event, but not of Jeffrey
Jeffrey Eugenides:
The author of Middlesex (bestselling winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize) and The Virgin Suicides (made into a film by Sofia Coppola), is back––with a novel about modern love.
It’s the early 1980s and Madeleine Hanna, a dutiful English major, is writing her senior thesis on Jane... |
| 2011_DC_Foer_110314 | 94 | Politics & Prose @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue -- Joshua Foer ("Moonwalking with Einstein")
On average, people squander 40 days a year compensating for things they've forgotten. Joshua Foer used to be one of those people, but after a year of memory training, he found himself in the finals of the U.S. Memory Championship. Even more important, Foer found a vital truth we often forget: In every... |
| 2011_DC_Armstrong_110110 | 94 | Politics & Prose @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue -- Karen Armstrong ("Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life") -- All except presentation
Karen Armstrong - Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life:
In her many books on the history of religion (The Battle for God, The Great Transformation), Armstrong has advocated compassion as one of the greatest virtues. In her new book, she presents practical ways to practice compassion in everyday life,... |
| 2011_DC_Moore_111002 | 118 | Politics & Prose @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue -- Michael Moore ("Here Comes Trouble")
Michael Moore:
"I had an unusually large-sized head, though this was not uncommon for a baby in the Midwest. The craniums in our part of the country were designed to leave a little extra room for the brain to grow in case one day we found ourselves exposed to something we didn't understand, like a... |
| 2011_DC_Ondaatje_111116 | 37 | Politics & Prose @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue -- Michael Ondaatje ("The Cat's Table")
Set on a ship bound from Colombo to England in the 1950s, the haunting new novel by the Booker Prize-winning author of The English Patient is the coming-of-age story of an eleven-year-old boy. Finding unlikely tutors on jazz, literature, and women among his fellow passengers, the boy also glimpses... |
| 2011_DC_Used2BUs_110908 | 49 | Politics & Prose @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue -- Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum ("That Used To Be Us")
Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum:
America has a huge problem. It faces four major challenges, on which its future depends, and it is failing to meet them. In That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back, Friedman and Mandelbaum analyze those... |
| 2011_DC_Eco_111109 | 23 | Politics & Prose @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue -- Umberto Eco ("Prague Cemetery") w/Keith Donohue
Umberto Eco:
Nineteenth-century Europe -- from Turin to Prague to Paris -- abounds with the ghastly and the mysterious. Conspiracies rule history. Jesuits plot against Freemasons. Italian republicans strangle priests with their own intestines. French criminals plan bombings by day and celebrate Black... |