February 2010
Saturday, February 6, 1 p.m. Wednesday, February 17, 7 p.m. Thursday, February 25, 7 p.m. 25 Feb6 10 Dolen Perkins-Valdez 17Feb 10 Robert W. McChesney & John Banville Feb 10 Wench John Nichols The Infinities (Amistad, $24.99) The Death And Life Of (Knopf, $25.95) In her powerful debut novel, Perkins-Valdez revis- American Journalism Banville, winner of the Man Booker Prize for The its pre-Civil War America. Centering on an Ohio (Nation Books, $26.95) Sea, returns to read from his 15th novel. An elegant resort that caters to Southern plantation owners Veteran reporters, the authors chart the erosion of fiction about mortality and the immortals who may and their slave mistresses, the book presents a traditional news media. Print and broadcast news surround us, the book tells the story of the final complex, polarized society from the perspective bureaus have shrunk or disappeared entirely, meaning that matters days of Adam Godley, a renowned mathematician, the family who of three slave women; seemingly resigned to their situation, they’re of importance, local and national, go uncovered. The authors call has gathered to see him off—and the invisible spirits hovering to jolted into a new sense of possibility when a newcomer talks about for an “era of experimentation,” where old and new media together make mischief. running away. might fill the news vacuum. Friday, February 26, 7 p.m.
Saturday, February 6, 6 p.m. Thursday, February 18, 7 p.m. 26Feb 10 Shankar Vedantam Feb6 10 Michael Kranish Katharine Weber 18Feb 10 The Hidden Brain Flight From Monticello True Confections (Spiegel & Grau, $26) (Oxford Univ., $27.95). (Shaye Areheart, $22). Exploring questions such as how much we are Legends now, the Founding Fathers in their day Weber’s wit comes to the fore in her new comic in control of our actions and how large a role the were as fallible as anyone else. Kranish’s investiga- novel about the Ziplinsky family and its candy unconscious plays in our decisions, Vendatam, The tion into Jefferson’s actions during a British military business. Like any family, this one has secrets, and Washington Post columnist (“Department of Human incursion in the Revolutionary War reveals the then- as Alice, recently married into the clan, tries to un- Behavior”), combines cognitive science and psychology for a fasci- governor of Virginia as a deficient military leader and poor planner. derstand her new relatives, she uncovers a story involving Hungarian nating and illuminating look at why we do what we do. immigrants and a runaway slave from a cacao plantation. Saturday, February 27, 1 p.m.
Monday, February 8, 7 p.m. Friday, February 19, 7 p.m. David R. Dow 27Feb 10 Feb8 10 Julian E. Zelizer 19Feb 10 Kristen Clarke (ed.) The Autobiography Of An Execution Arsenal Of Democracy Barack Obama And African American (Twelve, $24.99) (Basic Books, $35) Empowerment Litigation director of the Texas Defender Service, a A Princeton professor of history and public affairs, (Palgrave Macmillan, $28) professor at the University of Houston Law Center, Zelizer shows that partisan fighting has always With co-editor Manning Marable, Clarke, a civil and a staunch opponent of the death penalty, Dow shaped American foreign policy, while national rights attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense and has written a powerful account of capital punish- security has always been part of our domestic con- Educational Fund, has assembled a roster of dis- ment. His memoir offers an intimate look at all parties involved, flicts. Rather than a new phenomenon of the Bush/Obama years, tinguished thinkers to consider the evolution of black leadership and from the overworked legal aid lawyers to their clients. U.S. domestic politics and foreign affairs have been intertwined for politics from the Civil Rights movement to the election of President the last six decades. Obama. Kristen will be joined by contributors Sherrilyn Ifill and Bill Fletcher. Saturday, February 27, 3:30 p.m. 27Feb 10 Judith Warner Tuesday, February 9, 7 p.m. Saturday, February 20, 1 p.m. We’ve Got Issues Basharat Peer Frank A. Aukofer 20 9 Feb 10 (Riverhead, $25.95) Curfewed Night Feb 10 Never A Slow Day In her important study of psychotherapeutic drugs (Scribner, $25) (Marquette Univ., $37) for children, Warner, our friend, neighbor, New A journalist born in Kashmir, Peer chronicles A newspaper reporter, Aukofer covered the major York Times “Domestic Disturbances” columnist, the devastating effects of the region’s conflict that events of the second half of the twentieth century, and author of Perfect Madness, explores questions since 1989 has killed some 70,000 people. From from the 1960s Civil Rights movement to President surrounding over- and under-medication for learning and emotional terrorist training camps to villages planted with land Clinton’s impeachment. This is his account of the problems, the power of the pharmaceutical industry, and the an- mines, from peasants to politicians, Peer’s book is a comprehensive adventure that was his life as a journalist and the extraordinary guish of parents wanting to do what’s best amid confusing advice. and vivid account of a war-torn land. people he encountered along the way. Saturday, February 27, 6 p.m. 27 10 Wednesday, February 10, 7 p.m. 20 Saturday, February 20, 5 p.m. Dean Haspiel (ed.) Feb 10 Feb 10 Peter Hessler Feb 10 Atlas Performing Arts Center The Act-I-Vate Primer Country Driving 1333 H Street NE (IDW, $24.99) (HarperCollins, $27.99) Steven V. Roberts From well known creators to fresh talent, The author of River Town and Oracle Bones com- From Every End Of This Earth Act-I-Vate.com has long functioned as one pletes his trilogy on contemporary China with a re- (HarperCollins, $25.99) of the most renowned collectives of webcomix on the internet. port on that country’s love affair with cars. Hessler, As participants in Intersections: A New American Now, with their first print anthology, The Act-I-Vate Primer, the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, got a Arts Festival, we are presenting Steve Roberts, who collective expands their ever increasing pool of original comic art. Chinese driver’s license in 2001 and spent six years driving some will explore the contemporary immigrant experience Dean will be joined by contributors Jim Dougan, Simon Fraser, and 7,000 miles around China.. His narratives of driving lessons, use of through the accounts of thirteen families from vari- Joe Infurnari. the horn, and traffic violations are funny and frightening. ous backgrounds. Tickets are $5, and may be purchased either at the door or by calling 202-399-7993 ext. 2. Sunday, February 28, 5 p.m. Thursday, February 11, 7 p.m. 28Feb 10 Sarah Blake Philip Pomper 11 Saturday, February 20, 6 p.m. Feb 10 20 The Postmistress Lenin’s Brother Lillian Lincoln Lambert Feb 10 (Amy Einhorn, $25.95) Audio (W.W. Norton, $24.95) The Road To Someplace Better Set in 1940, this rich, historical novel opens with In 1886 Alexander Ulyanov, a brilliant biology (Wiley, $25.95) Frankie Bard, a radio journalist covering the war student, joined other students at St. Petersburg Uni- In her moving and inspiring memoir, Lambert in Europe. Meanwhile, Iris James, a middle-aged versity to plot the assassination of Russia’s tsar. The recounts her upbringing in the rural, segregated postmistress on Cape Cod, falls in love. Their mission failed, and its leaders, Alexander included, South, her menial jobs in New York and Washing- paths cross when Frankie returns to the States determined to deliver a were executed. His younger brother, Vladimir, was deeply affected ton, and the hard work that made her the first black letter from a doctor killed during the Blitz. by these events and later led the October Revolution of 1917 under woman to earn an MBA at Harvard Business School. This rags-to- his revolutionary pseudonym “Lenin.” riches American success story charts Lambert’s rise from maid to CEO of a $20 million maintenance company. Friday, February 12, 7 p.m. Children and Teens’ Department 12Feb 10 Vanda Felbab-Brown Sunday, February 21, 1 p.m.
Shooting Up 21Feb 10 Rebecca Skloot (Brookings Institution, $28.95) The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks Tuesday, February 2, 10:30 a.m. A fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings, Felbab- (Crown, $26) Paula Young Shelton Feb2 10 Brown argues that the “narcoguerilla” premise— Henrietta Lacks was a poor Southern tobacco Child Of The Civil Rights Movement which assumes a symbiotic relationship between farmer, buried in an unmarked grave, but her cells (Schwartz & Wade, $17.99) drug trafficking and terrorist organizations—that continue to outlive her. Taken without her knowl- The daughter of Andrew Young knew Martin underlies much U.S. policy is mistaken and counterproductive. She edge and cultured by scientists at Johns Hopkins Luther King, Jr., as “Uncle Martin,” and she and draws on specific case studies from around the world as evidence Hospital in the 1950s, they led to a lucrative industry in biological her sisters were carried in their parents’ arms on for effective sequencing of counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, materials. Skloot’s account of this outrage looks at its effects on the march to Selma. This memoir culminates with and counternarcotics efforts. Lacks’s family and considers the larger history of experimentation passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965; Paula watched Uncle on African Americans without their consent. Martin on TV with Lyndon Johnson as the President signed the act Saturday, February 13, 1 p.m. into law. Ronald D. Asmus 13Feb 10 Sunday, February 21, 5 p.m. A Little War That Shook The World Paula Butturini 21Feb 10 Saturday, February 6, 10:30 a.m.
(Palgrave Macmillan, $27) Keeping The Feast Feb6 10 Georgia Irvin In his examination of the brief war between Russia (Riverhead, $25.95) Georgia Irvin’s Guide To Schools and Georgia of August 2008, the former Assistant Butturini’s husband was shot and wounded while (Taylor Trade, $16.95) Deputy Secretary of State presents evidence that reporting on an uprising in Romania, and as Irvin served for 15 years as Director of Ad- Moscow had been planning such an action for some she helped him recover from the depression and missions and Financial Aid at Sidwell Friends time. He argues that it was intended to alert the psychic trauma that accompanied his injury, she School. Her guide to D.C.-area public and private West that Russia is a force to contend with in the 21st century. learned that the physical damage of war is only the beginning. schools—now in its third edition—has long helped parents find the right schools for their Saturday, February 13, 6 p.m. 22 Monday, February 22, 7 p.m. children. 13Feb 10 William Cohen & Feb 10 Lynne Olson Janet Langhart Cohen Citizens Of London Tuesday, February 9, 10:30 a.m.
Race And Reconciliation In America (Random House, $28) Rosalyn Schanzer Feb9 10 (Lexington, $24.95) Olson follows Troublesome Young Men, her account What Darwin Saw Cohen, a Jewish-Irish Protestant former Maine Sen- of the renegade Tories who put Churchill in power, (National Geographic, $17.95) ator, collaborates with his wife, an African-American with another fine history of the period. She focuses In his round-the-world voyage of1830, Darwin Southern Baptist former television personality from on three resolute Americans who supported the observed huge turtles and an earthquake’s after- Indiana, to argue for an open dialogue on racial, ethnic, and reli- Brits and helped bring the U.S. to their rescue: Edward R. Mur- effects. Schanzer uses Darwin’s words—from gious prejudice. In 2008 the couple convened a multicultural group, row; Averell Harriman, the millionaire politician; and John Gilbert his letters and journals—and her own colorful which included Douglas Blackmon, Deepak Chopra, Sam Donald- Winant, American Ambassador and an admirable diplomat, whose drawings to tell the story of this history-changing adventure. son, Louis Gossett, Jr., and the Honorable John Lewis, to start just crucial role has been forgotten until now. such a discussion. Thursday, February 11, 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, February 23, 7 p.m. 11 23 Feb 10 Stuart Stotts Sunday, February 14, 5 p.m. 14 Shane Harris Feb 10 We Shall Overcome James Mcgrath Morris Feb 10 The Watchers (Clarion Books, $18; CD included) Pulitzer (Penguin Press, $27.95) The anthem for the Civil Rights movement (HarperCollins, $29.99) Harris, an expert on intelligence matters who writes and a rallying cry for the Vietnam War protests, A biography of Joseph Pulitzer and a history of for National Journal, sounds an alarm about how our “We Shall Overcome” today is familiar around modern journalism, Morris’s book charts Pulitzer’s government has developed sophisticated surveil- the world. Stotts’s history of the song goes back to its origins in life from his birth in Hungary and his emigration lance spyware in the last thirty years. Looking back hymns and gospel music and its roles in demonstrations against to the United States in 1864, to his involvement in to Admiral Poindexter’s Total Information Awareness program, he many different injustices. journalism, which began when Pulitzer moved to St. Louis after the charts the growth of covert intelligence systems that make it harder war. In 1879 he bought two newspapers, combined them into The to catch terrorists and easier to spy on citizens. Tuesday, February 16, 10:30 a.m.
St. Louis Post- Dispatch, and proceeded to transform the landscape of and at the Bethesda Library, 7 p.m. 16Feb 10 American news and politics. 24 Wednesday, February 24, 7 p.m. Ally Carter Feb 10 Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Heist Society 15 Monday, February 15, 7 p.m. One Amazing Thing (Hyperion, $16.99) Feb 10 Wade Davis (HarperCollins, $23.99) To put her family’s business—art theft—behind her, The Wayfinders The latest novel from the author of The Mistress Katarina Bishop leaves home for boarding school. (House of Anansi, $15.95) of Spices is a collage of stories that demonstrates Then someone steals a mobster’s priceless collection In his startling examination of indigenous popula- narrative’s power to unite people and help them of masterpieces, and Kat’s father is the prime suspect. With help tions and global climate change, Davis, a prominent endure. When an earthquake traps nine strang- from her friends, Kat sets out to solve the case and clear her father’s anthropologist, adds human cultural losses to the list ers in an office building, they cope with the stress of waiting name. of endangered plants and animals. Wade fears that for rescue by taking turns relating something they’ve never told 50% of the world’s 7,000 languages may disappear in our lifetime, anyone before. Tuesday, February 23, 10:30 a.m. along with the values, myths, and meanings they embody. 23Feb 10 Polly Horvath 16 Wednesday, February 24, 7 p.m. Northward To The Moon Tuesday, February 16, 7 p.m. Feb 10 @ Sixth & I 24Feb 10 (Schwartz & Wade $17.99) Henning Mankell Ted Leonsis In the sequel to My One Hundred Adventures, Jane’s The Man From Beijing The Business Of Happiness new stepfather, Ned, is fired from his job teaching (Knopf, $25.95) (Regnery, $27.95) French and, at loose ends, takes the family on more When nineteen people are murdered in the Swedish Surviving a plane crash at age 25, Leonsis (now the adventures in the United States. Horvath, a New- town of Hesjovallen, Judge Birgitta Roslin is espe- owner of the Washington Capitals), already a success- bery Honor and National Book Award-winner, focuses on the many cially drawn to the case because her grandparents ful entrepreneur, realized he wasn’t happy. Applying meanings of family as her characters meet new relatives. are among the dead. While the police insist that his analytical skills to the question of personal fulfill- the massacre is the work of a lone madman, Birgitta suspects that ment, he studied satisfaction in fellow business executives, successful it’s more complicated. Mankell again shows why he’s among the top entertainers, and professional athletes, as well as typical Americans.Two O An audio edition of this title is available to be ordered. international crime writers. tickets are free with book purchase from P&P or are $12 each. L A large-print edition of this title is available to be ordered. 5015 Connecticut Ave NW Washington, DC 20008
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Store Hours: Monday–Saturday 9 a.m. – 10 p.m. February 2010 Sunday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Events Calendar Owners: Carla Cohen & Barbara Meade
Wednesday, February 10, 7 p.m. Peter Hessler
Monday, February 22, 7 p.m. Thursday, February 25, 7 p.m. Lynne Olson John Banville
Tuesday, February 16, 7 p.m. Saturday, February 27, 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 3, 7 p.m. Henning Mankell Judith Warner Anne E. Kornblut
Monday, February 1, 7 p.m. 1 4 Thursday, February 4, 7 p.m. Book Groups Chris Farrell Feb 10 Feb 10 Douglas Rogers P & P book groups meet monthly, and are free and open to the public. The New Frugality The Last Resort Book group titles are 20% off for attendees. Read the book and join us! (Bloomsbury, $24) (Harmony, $24.99) The personal finance correspondent for NPR’s Rogers’s account of returning to his childhood • Capital James Joyce Club (1st Thursday, 7:30 p.m.) Marketplace Money shows how the economic home in Zimbabwe is a kaleidoscopic narrative of 2/4: Ulysses Chapter 14, by Joyce, Odyssey Book 12, by Homer downturn can be an opportunity to reconsider political repression, endurance against the • Classics (1st Monday, 7:30 p.m.) what, why, and how much we consume. Defining odds, natural beauty, and squalor. A New York- 2/1: The Landmark Herodotus, by Strassler “frugality” as a focus on quality rather than quantity, Farrell offers based travel writer, Rogers is vivid and moving as he reports on • Daytime (3rd Wednesday, 12:30 p.m.) advice on a range of practical matters, from household accounts changes to his birthplace and on his parents’ hardships under the 2/17: Let The Great World Spin, by McCann to planning for college expenses. Mugabe regime. • Evening Fiction (2nd Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.) 2/9: Regeneration, by Barker 2 Tuesday, February 2, 7 p.m. Friday, February 5, 7 p.m. 5 • Fascinating History (4th Thursday, 7:30 p.m.) Feb 10 Garry Wills Joel Kotkin Feb 10 2/25: Havana Nocture, by English Bomb Power The Next Hundred Million • Futurist (1st Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.) (Penguin Press, $27.95) (Penguin Press, $25.95). 2/3: Unscientific America, by Mooney Looking back to the Manhattan Project, Wills From the author of The City: A Global History and • Graphic Novel (1st Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.) argues that the secrecy surrounding the invention The New Geography, this look at America in 2050 2/24: Stitches, by Small of the atomic bomb led to the growth of a larger foresees a population greater by 100 million peo- • Modern Japanese Literature (3rd Monday 7:30) institutional apparatus for covert operations, in- ple, living mostly in suburban areas rather than in 2/15: The Woman With The Flying Head, by Kurahishi cluding the CIA and the NSA. It also initiated a profound change cities like New York and Chicago. With technology enabling more • Poetry (4th Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.) in the nature of the presidency, with security as the primary focus. people to work from home, families and local communities will 2/23: Eight American Poets, by Conarrie define the social fabric. • Public Affairs (4th Monday, 7:30 p.m.) Wednesday, February 3, 7 p.m. 3 2/22: Anne E. Kornblut Feb 10 Author Photo Credits • Science Fiction & Fantasy (2nd Thurs., 7:30 p.m.) Notes From The Cracked Ceiling Peter Hessler - Darryl Kennedy Lynne Olson - Stanley Cloud 2/11: Boneshaker, by Priest (Crown, $25) Henning Mankell - Ulla Montan Anne Kornblut - Jim Thresher • Spanish Language (3rd Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.) Kornblut, a veteran of three presidential cam- Judith Warner - Jean-Louis Atlan John Banville - Douglas Banville 2/16: La Piel Del Cielo, by Poniatowski paigns who currently covers the White House • Spirituality (3rd Sunday, 6 p.m.) for The Washington Post, analyses why women still 2/21: have not been elected to the highest public of- Our Membership Dues Have Changed Since January 1, 2010 • Teen (4th Sunday, 3:30 p.m.) fices. Drawing on extensive interviews with women of both major 2/28: Eli the Good, by House parties, Kornblut examines the strategies and assumptions that • Travel (1st Tuesday, 7 p.m.) need to change to make politics truly gender-equal. Anne will be in $25 - 1 Year $45 - 2 Years $100 - 5 Years 2/2: When A Crocodile Eats The Sun, by Godwin conversation with CNN’s Candy Crowley. • Women’s Biography (2nd Monday, 7:30 p.m.) 20% off P&P Hardcover Bestsellers and all Event Titles for Members throughout February 2/8: Road of Lost Innocence, by Mam
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 31 1 7 p.m. 2 10:30 a.m. 3 7 p.m. 4 7 p.m. 5 7 p.m. 6 10:30 a.m. Chris Farrell Paula Young Shelton Anne E. Kornblut Douglas Rogers Joel Kotkin Georgia Irvin The New Frugality Child Of The Civil Notes From The Cracked Ceiling The Last Resort The Next Hundred Million Georgia Irvin’s Guide To Schools Rights Movement 1 p.m. Dolen Perkins-Valdez 7 p.m. Wench Garry Wills 6 p.m. Bomb Power Michael Kranish Flight From Monticello 7 8 7 p.m. 9 10:30 a.m. 10 7 p.m. 11 10:30 a.m. 12 7 p.m. 13 1 p.m. Julian E. Zelizer Rosalyn Schanzer Peter Hessler Stuart Stotts Vanda Felbab-Brown Ronald D. Asmus Arsenal Of Democracy What Darwin Saw Country Driving We Shall Overcome Shooting Up A Little War That Shook The World
7 p.m. 7 p.m. 6 p.m. Basharat Peer Philip Pomper William Cohen & Curfewed Night Lenin’s Brother Janet Langhart Cohen Race And Reconciliation In America
14 5 p.m. 15 7 p.m. 16 10:30 a.m. 17 7 p.m. 18 7 p.m. 19 7 p.m. 20 1 p.m. James Mcgrath Morris Wade Davis and at the Bethesda Library, 7 p.m. Robert W. McChesney & Katharine Weber Kristen Clarke (ed.) Frank A. Aukofer Never A Slow Day Pulitzer The Wayfinders Ally Carter John Nichols True Confections Barack Obama And 5 p.m. Heist Society The Death And Life African-American Empowerment Atlas Performing Arts Center Of American Journalism Steven V. Roberts 7 p.m. From Every End Of This Earth Henning Mankell 6 p.m. The Man From Beijing Lillian Lincoln Lambert The Road To Someplace Better 21 1 p.m. 22 7 p.m. 23 10:30 a.m. 24 7 p.m. 25 7 p.m. 26 7 p.m. 27 1 p.m. Rebecca Skloot Lynne Olson Polly Horvath Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni John Banville Shankar Vedantam David R. Dow The Autobiography Of The Immortal Life Of Citizens Of London Northward To The Moon One Amazing Thing The Infinities The Hidden Brain An Execution Henrietta Lacks 3:30 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. Judith Warner 5 p.m. Shane Harris Sixth & I We’ve Got Issues Paula Butturini The Watchers Ted Leonsis 6 p.m. Keeping The Feast The Business Of Happiness Dean Haspiel (ed.) The Act-I-Vate Primer 28 5 p.m. Sarah Blake The Postmistress February 2010 20% off P&P Hardcover Bestsellers and all Event Titles for Members throughout February