Live at Politics and Prose

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Dhonielle Clayton: Live at Politics and Prose Mar 16, 2018

Show notes

In Orléans, people are born gray-skinned and ugly. Sixteen-year-old Camellia and her sisters are tasked with using magic to make them beautiful but for a price. However, as Camellia’s talents draw her closer to people with political power, she learns that her world is less beautiful--and more dangerous--than it appears. Author Daniel José Older writes of Clayton’s first solo novel, “The Belles is full of political drama, palace intrigue, complex and corrupt characters, and deadly betrayals.” Clayton is in conversation with Jason Reynolds, author of Long Way Down

https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9781484728499

Robert Reich: Live at Politics and Prose Mar 09, 2018

Show notes

Robert B. Reich has been one of America's leading political thinkers since he served as Bill Clinton's Secretary of Labor, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. A constant voice for social change, Reich is the author of 14 books, including the best-sellers Saving Capitalism and The Work of Nations. Now, he makes the case for restoring the idea of the common good to the center of our economics, our politics, and our national identity. The Common Good argues that societies undergo both virtuous and vicious cycles, and that the vicious cycle the U.S. is now undergoing can and must be reversed. Reich challenges us to weigh what really matters, and to join forces to save America's soul.

https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9780525520498

Brittney Cooper: Live at Politics and Prose Mar 02, 2018

Show notes

When mainstream culture stereotypes the anger of Black women as ugly or destructive, or when it dismisses “sassy” Black women by laughing them off, it does so because it knows this Black female rage is powerful. In this passionate manifesto, Cooper, co-founder of the Crunk Feminist Collective and recipient of the Black Feminist Rising Award from Black Women’s Blueprint and the Newswomen’s Club of New York, draws on examples from Serena Williams to Michelle Obama to her own grandmother to show how rage can fuel both political and personal accomplishments. Reminding us that 94% of Black women did not vote for Trump, Cooper exhorts all Black women to claim the anger they have rightfully earned and speak out against injustice of all kinds.

Cooper is in conversation with Damon Young, editor-in-chief of VerySmartBrothas.

https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9781250112576

Isaac Butler & Dan Kois: Live at Politics and Prose Feb 23, 2018

Show notes

Twenty-five years ago, Angels in America made its Broadway premier. It won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Tony Award for best play, but Tony Kushner’s landmark work was always more than just a theater piece. It changed the way gay lives are represented in popular culture and the story of its many productions is also the story of AIDS and the struggle for gay rights. In this vibrant oral history, Butler, writer and director of productions including The Trump Card and Real Enemies, and Kois, editor and writer for Slate’s culture section, bring together the voices of more than two hundred people closely associated with Angels, from Meryl Streep and Mary-Louise Parker to directors, producers, historians, critics, and Kushner himself, to reminisce, tell stories, debate, and celebrate a piece that’s as vital today as it was when it opened in San Francisco in 1991.

Butler and Kois are in conversation with Glen Weldon, co-host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. The three of them will be joined for a staged reading of one chapter from the book, featuring: Alexandra Petri, humor writer for the Washington Post and author of A Field Guide to Awkward Silences; Mark Joseph Stern, a writer for Slate covering the law and LGBTQ issues; Jacob Brogan, host of the Slate podcast Working; and D.C. based stage actors Kimberly Gilbert and Michael Kevin Darnall.

https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9781635571769

David Frum: Live at Politics and Prose Feb 16, 2018

Show notes

Frum’s ninth book expands on his eye-opening March 2017 Atlantic column, “How to Build an Autocracy,” which argued that Trump is leading the nation into authoritarianism. An experienced Washington insider and one of the country’s leading conservative commentators, Frum examines the implications of Trump’s behavior as well as his policies. From Trump’s admiration for strongmen such as the Philippines’ Roderigo Duterte and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdoğan to the president’s threats against the media, his impulsive decision-making, and flouting of tradition and even law, Frum sees evidence that Trump’s presidency, if left unchecked, will seriously damage America’s democratic future.

http://www.politics-prose.com/book/9780062796738

Johann Hari: Live at Politics and Prose Feb 09, 2018

Show notes

Hari, author of Chasing the Scream, changed the terms of the debate about addiction with his influential TED talk, “Everything You Think You Know About Addiction Is Wrong.” In his second book he uses his own experience with depression and anti-depressant medication as the starting point for a critique of current chemical-imbalance theories of mental illness. Asking if the growing levels of depression could be related to the conditions we live in, Hari talked to social scientists as well as psychologists. Finding a link between depression and external factors such as loneliness, work-based dissatisfaction, and other discontents of consumer culture, he reports from around the world on unconventional treatments—community volunteer projects instead of pills, non-hierarchical workplaces—that improve mental health by fostering a sense of empowerment. Hari is in conversation with Andrew Sullivan, former editor of The New Republic, and the author or editor of six books.

http://www.politics-prose.com/book/9781632868305

Leni Zumas: Live at Politics and Prose Feb 02, 2018

Show notes

In the all-too-plausible future of Zumas’s second novel, the Personhood Amendment has outlawed abortion, a “pink wall” has gone up between the U.S. and Canada to prevent pregnant Americans from accessing Canadian clinics, and the “Every Child Needs Two” act means single parents are ineligible to adopt. These measures, along with the old-fashioned sexism that keeps women underpaid, under-confident, and overworked, makes life difficult for Zumas’s four protagonists. Known by their roles: the Biographer, the Wife, the Daughter, and the Mender, as well as by their names: Roberta, Susan, Mattie, and Gin, these rebellious characters are determined to break through social constraints and direct their own lives.

http://www.politics-prose.com/book/9780316434812

Race in America 2018: Live at Politics and Prose Jan 26, 2018

Show notes

Join April Ryan for the fifth in an ongoing series of discussions focusing on race in America. As in previous presentations, Ryan will moderate a panel of leading writers and commentators to examine recent and longstanding issues. Speakers include: Mary Frances Berry, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, the former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and the author of nearly a dozen books, the next of which is History Teaches Us To Resist, forthcoming in March from Beacon Press; Bishop T. D. Jakes, senior pastor of The Potter’s House, a global humanitarian organization and 30,000-member church located in Dallas, and the author of many books, including most recently Soar!: Build Your Vision from the Ground Up; Wesley Lowery, Pulitzer Prize-winning national correspondent at the Washington Post, on-air contributor at CNN, and author of the awarded book They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement; and Jason Riley, a journalist, frequent media commentator, member of The Wall Street Journaleditorial board, and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Since 2015, April Ryan, Washington Bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks and author of At Mama’s Kneeand The Presidency in Black and White, has brought together panelists and moderated an ongoing series of discussions on the topic of race in America today. During these panels, which are often broadcast on C-SPAN Book TV, leading writers and commentators address recent and longstanding issues with candor and urgency. Click the images on the left to view previous discussions.

Linda Gordon: Live at Politics and Prose Jan 12, 2018

Show notes

The KKK was founded in 1865 by Confederate veterans. After a few turbulent years and federal efforts to outlaw it, it faded with Reconstruction. Then it rose again in the 1920s. This second incarnation flourished largely in the north, grounded in the same strains of racism, nativism, and Christian evangelicalism that had sparked the original group. In this detailed analysis of the new Klan’s agenda, strategies, and membership, Gordon, two-time Bancroft Prize winner and author of Dorothea Lange, documents how these seemingly respectable, mostly middle-class white Protestants used celebrations of “Americanism” combined with the perception of threats to white supremacy to gain control of 150 newspapers and usher in immigration restrictions and anti-miscegenation laws. Gordon’s account is especially chilling in its parallels between the KKK and the rise of the Tea Party and the Trump movement.

http://www.politics-prose.com/book/9781631493690

Bruce Bartlett: Live at Politics and Prose Jan 05, 2018

Show notes

Bartlett’s handbook for telling real facts from alternative versions is a practical tool for citizens concerned about the quality of the news they consume. Bartlett, who served in both the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations and more recently has written for Forbes and The New York Times “Economix” blog, is uniquely positioned to advise readers on how to evaluate sources for accuracy and reliability. Using his inside knowledge of both government and the journalists who cover it, Bartlett offers clear and direct guidelines for assessing the truth value of what gets reported, how it’s reported, and where.

http://www.politics-prose.com/book/9780399581168

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