April 2010 6 Tuesday, April 6, 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 14, 7 p.m. 14 Sunday, April 25, 1 p.m. Apr 10 Michael O’Brien Sixth & I Historic Synagogue Apr 10 25Apr 10 Chester Hartman and Mrs. Adams In Winter Yann Martel Gregory D. Squires (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27) Beatrice And Virgil The Integration Debate From the Cambridge professor of American intel- (Spiegel & Grau, $24) (Routledge, $36.95) lectual history, this profile of Louisa Adams, wife of Martel won the 2002 Man Booker Prize for The Life From “race fatigue” to “integration exhaustion,” race John Quincy, is a rich look at the woman and her of Pi, his story of a boy and a tiger adrift at sea. His continues to plague American society. In their timely times. O’Brien focuses on Louisa’s solo journey from new novel, featuring a donkey, a howler monkey, and colloquy, Hartman, Director of Research for the Pov- St. Petersburg to Paris after the Napoleonic wars. an enigmatic taxidermist, is an equally whimsical and erty & Race Research Action Council, and Squires, a philosophical consideration of truth and deception, responsibility and professor of public policy and public administration at George Washing- Wednesday, April 7, 7 p.m. complicity. This is a ticketed event. Two admission tickets are free with ton, explore both ongoing and emerging controversies surrounding race Christopher Moore Apr7 10 book purchase from P&P or are $12 each without purchase of the book. in education, housing, jobs, and the legal system. Bite Me (William Morrow, $23.99) Thursday, April 15, 7 p.m. Sunday, April 25, 5 p.m. Jennifer Gilmore 25 Continuing his Blooksucking Fiends series, Moore’s 15Apr 10 2010 Big Read with Gayle Wald Apr 10 latest love story picks up where You Suck left off. Nar- Something Red Faith and Doubt in rated by Abby Normal, still with Foo Dog in the love (Scribner, $25) “A Lesson Before Dying” lair, this latest installment of the vampiric goings-on in Gilmore follows her well-received Golden Country Ernest Gaines’s novel stages a fascinating argument San Francisco is funny, suspenseful, and full of surprises. with a book that should have wide appeal in the D.C. area. between doubt and faith. This argument unfolds in the Set in 1979, the novel focuses on the Goldsteins, a Wash- relation between the teacher-narrator, Grant, and his Wednesday, April 7, 8:15 p.m. ington family with left/liberal roots. As the two teenagers antagonist, the Reverend, but it also involves the women Apr7 10 The Avalon Theatre struggle to establish independent identities, the adults in the novel and the imprisoned young man, Jefferson. David Remnick work to define themselves politically in the shifting landscape of the times. GWU English Professor Gayle Wald, a specialist in 20th-century African The Bridge American literature and culture and author of Shout, Sister, Shout!, a 2007 (Knopf, $29.95) 16 Friday, April 16, 7 p.m. biography of the gospel performer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, will lead this ses- Using interviews and letters, Remnick, editor of The Apr 10 Craig Yoe sion, which includes opening remarks and a community discussion of skepti- New Yorker, has expanded his magazine profile of The Great Anti-War Cartoons cism and belief, secular and sacred, in Gaines’s award-winning book Obama to tell the 44th president’s life story and trace (Fantagraphics, $24.99) the remarkable political journey that led to the White House. Remnick Yoe, a historian of cartoons, has assembled a vast array 26 Monday, April 26, 7 p.m. will be in conversation with Michele Norris of NPR. This is a ticketed of anti-war comics that span the globe and date back to Apr 10 Nick Bunker event. Two admission tickets are free with book purchase from P&P or are the 1600s. These comics run the gamut of emotions, Making Haste From Babylon $10 each without purchase of the book. from Bill Mauldin’s humor to Francisque Poulbot’s (Knopf, $30) sorrow. Yoe’s presentation will include source material from Warren Told from the British perspective, this history of the Thursday, April 8, 7 p.m. Bernard’s private collection. Pilgrims is rich in details newly unearthed from U.K. Roxana Saberi Apr8 10 archives. Bunker, a British former investment banker Between Two Worlds Saturday, April 17, 1 p.m. 17 and descendant of a Pilgrim, considers the Plymouth (HarperCollins, $25.99) Carl Hoffman Apr 10 Colony of the 1620s in terms not only of the Puritans’ faith, but also of Saberi, an Iranian-American raised in North The Lunatic Express the wider context of the global politics and economics of the time. Dakota, returned to in 2003. In January 2009 she (Broadway, $24.99) was arrested, interrogated, convicted of espionage, and Hoffman, a contributing editor at National Geographic Trav- Tuesday, April 27, 7 p.m. 27Apr 10 given an eight-year prison sentence. After an inter- eler, has written a hair-raising account of his six-month global Daniele Mastrogiacomo national outcry, she was released. Her account offers an eloquent and trek on the world’s most dangerous conveyances. He embarks Days Of Fear insightful portrait of Iranian society, from its hard-line regime to her on ferries that kill some 1,000 people a year, takes overcrowded (Europa Editions, $15) fellow prisoners. commuter trains in Mumbai, traverses washed-out roads in the Amazon, and In his powerful memoir, Mastrogiacomoa, a foreign cor- goes Greyhound from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., all the while meeting respondent for La Repubblica, recounts how he and his Friday, April 9, 7 p.m. an amazing variety of people. driver were abducted by the in 2007. When Apr9 10 Seth Stevenson refused to withdraw its troops from , their Grounded 17 Saturday, April 17, 6 p.m. abductors executed the driver but let Mastrogiacomoa live, moving him (Riverhead, $15) Apr 10 Aviva Goldfarb around the country to elude detection. A travel columnist for Slate, Stevenson decided to see SOS! the world the old-fashioned way. Eschewing airplanes, (Griffin, $17.99) 28 Wednesday, April 28, 7 p.m. he circumnavigated the globe by shoe leather, bicycle, The author of The Six O’Clock Scramble offers Apr 10 Bruce Feiler rickshaw, bus, railroad, and boat. His charming travel- a year of weekly menus that not only reduce the The Council Of Dads ogue evokes the pleasures of slow, ground-level meanderings, which let stress of getting family dinners on the table but of- (William Morrow, $22.99) him savor time and distance. fer more healthful and environmentally conscious Diagnosed with cancer in 2008, Feiler, author of diets. Goldfarb’s advice includes tips on what “organic” means and when Walking the Bible, worried that his young daughters Saturday, April 10, 1 p.m. it matters; on how to eat seasonally; and on how to shop efficiently and might have to grow up without him. He asked six men Laura Skandera Trombley store foods in bulk. who had been important in his life to stand in for him 10Apr 10 Mark Twain’s Other Woman as a collective surrogate. Feiler’s memoir of this difficult time is a moving (Knopf, $27.95) Sunday, April 18, 5 p.m. 18 meditation on family, illness, and fatherhood. Isabel Van Kleek Lyon was Mark Twain’s Jacqueline Winspear Apr 10 personal assistant, social secretary, and confidante The Mapping Of Love And Death Thursday, April 29, 7 p.m. during the last years of his life. But she was distrusted (HarperCollins, $25.99) Andrew Young and Kabir Sehgal 29Apr 10 by Twain’s daughters, who called her manipulative and The seventh installment of the Maisie Dobbs series Walk In My Shoes forced their father to fire her. Trombley’s account of the finds the London psychologist and investigator em- (Palgrave Macmillan, $24) Lyon-Twain relationship is the first to draw on the complete archives of broiled in a case of love and murder that leads back to One of the great civil rights leaders, Young has long Lyon’s papers. 1914. Hired by the parents of a soldier who died on a acted as a mentor to his godson, Kabir Sehgal. Now French battlefield, Maisie uncovers the cause of his death, the identity of those lessons in leadership, along with Young’s thoughts Saturday, April 10, 3:30 p.m. the unnamed woman he loved, and much more, including secrets of her on race, justice, and his many rich experiences, have

10Apr 10 Julian E. Zelizer own heart. been collected in this book, which Young describes as “my attempt to Arsenal Of Democracy humbly pass along a few anecdotes, life lessons, and insights to prepare (Basic Books, $35) 19 Monday, April 19, 7 p.m. you for the long journey ahead.” A Princeton professor of history and public affairs, Apr 10 Anchee Min Zelizer shows that partisan fighting has always shaped Pearl Of China Friday, April 30, 7 p.m. (Bloomsbury, $24) Robert V. Remini American foreign policy, while national security has 30Apr 10 always been part of our domestic conflicts. Rather than a Min, specializing in historical novels with strong women At The Edge Of The Precipice new phenomenon of the Bush/Obama years, U.S. domestic politics and characters (Becoming Madame Mao, The Last Empress) (Basic Books, $24) foreign affairs have been intertwined for the last six decades. here tells the story of Pearl Buck. Told from the perspec- The latest work from the venerable scholar of tive of Willow Yee, Buck’s devoted friend, the narrative American history recounts the Compromise of 1850, Saturday, April 10, 6 p.m. chronicles the many political, cultural, and romantic tensions that test the focusing on Henry Clay’s pivotal role. Though it held Arthur Allen 10Apr 10 women’s friendship. off Southern secession and the Civil War for just a Ripe decade, the agreement was a master stroke of bipartisan politics in an (Counterpoint, $26) Tuesday, April 20, 7 p.m. unsettled and deeply divided time. In his chronicle of the tomato, Allen, a former Associ- Roger Lowenstein 20Apr 10 ated Press correspondent, harvests Florida tomatoes The End Of Wall Street with Mexican migrant workers, investigates the (Penguin Press, $27.95) Children and Teens’ Department Chinese mastery of the canning tomato, and contrasts The author of When Genius Failed here undertakes a traditional Italian growing methods with American industrial means. detailed history of the 2008 financial crisis. With sharp Sunday, April 11, 3:00 p.m. Do we want flavor, or a product machines can slice efficiently and profiles of banking CEOs and government regulators; Wendy Mass uniformly? lucid explanations of subprime mortgages and the 11Apr 10 spread of toxic debt; and a deep knowledge of liquidity, capital, and the Finally (Scholastic, $16.99) Sunday, April 11, 1 p.m. history of financial markets, Lowenstein’s is a thorough and engaging About to turn 12, Rory Swenson plans to get a 11Apr 10 Thomas E. Kennedy study. cell phone, go to the mall with friends, wear make-up, In The Company Of Angels have her ears pierced. But she doesn’t realize that re- (Bloomsbury, $25) Wednesday, April 21, 7 p.m. 21 sponsibilities come with these new freedoms. A coming- The first of Kennedy’s novels to be published in Apr 10 Mark Kurlansky of-age novel by a realistic fiction master. (Ages 9-12) his native country after a decade of literary success The Eastern Stars in Europe, this story of trauma and healing is set in (Riverhead, $25.95) Monday, April 12, 10:30 a.m. Copenhagen. Haunted by the torture he suffered in Manny Alexander, Sammy Sosa, Tony Fernández— 12Apr 10 S. Terrell French Pinochet’s Chile, Nardo cautiously approaches Michela, herself the sur- some of the many baseball stars who hail from San Pe- Operation Redwood vivor of abusive relationships. Kennedy will be in conversation with André dro in the Dominican Republic. In his multi-faceted (Abrams, $16.95) Dubus III, author most recently of The Garden of Last Days. profile of this impoverished, ethnically diverse region, the author of Cod and Salt traces the prodigious athletic talent back to When Julian learns that his uncle’s development company plans to cut down the remaining old growth Sunday, April 11, 5 p.m. the sugar industry, discussing economics, racism, and U.S.-Dominican redwoods, Julian and his friends fight to save the trees. Nancy Sherman 11Apr 10 relations. The Untold War An action-packed environmental novel for young people who dream big. Winner of the Green Award. (W.W. Norton, $27.95) Thursday, April 22, 7 p.m. 22Apr 10 (Ages 10-13) Based on interviews with soldiers engaged in the Jeff Shesol

current conflicts in and Afghanistan as well as Supreme Power Tuesday, April 13, 10:30 a.m. with veterans of earlier wars, Sherman’s study looks at (W.W. Norton, $27.95) Jackie Urbanovic 13Apr 10 combat from the inside out. A philosopher, ethicist, Beginning in 1935, the Supreme Court made a series of Sitting Duck and psychoanalyst, she considers the moral and psychological burdens decisions that overturned much of FDR’s New Deal. In (HarperCollins, $17.99) fighters bear, including how they learn to kill, how they leave killing 1937 Roosevelt fought back, attempting to “pack the Brody’s niece is coming to visit and Max the behind, and how they distinguish civilians from combatants. court” by increasing its membership to 15 and thereby circumventing its conservative majority. Shesol presents this tumultuous Duck offers to babysit. How could an adorable puppy be any trouble? But trouble does ensue. Monday, April 12, 7 p.m. period as transformative for the country’s political and constitutional In one scene Max’s falling camera shoots a picture just as the animals are 12Apr 10 John McPhee landscape. Shesol will be in conversation with E.J. Dionne of The Washing- going up on a trampoline. The illustrations’ original perspectives add to Silk Parachute ton Post. the laughs. (Ages 3-6) (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $25)

This collection of ten pieces from the phenomenal Friday, April 23, 7 p.m. 23 Sunday, April 18, 1:00 p.m. writer and prolific author ranges across Apr 10 Anya Kamenetz New Yorker 18 Erica Perl continents, subjects, and times. Among the diverse in- DIY U Apr 10 Vintage Veronica terests of this warm and engaging essayist are lacrosse, (Chelsea Green, $14.95) (Knopf, $16.99) the chalky geography of parts of Europe, photography, and memories of Dissatisfied with overpriced universities that generate Veronica Walsh has her ideal summer job: she works summer-camp experiences with canoes. more student debt than successful graduates, Kamenetz, author of Generation Debt, argues for new modes of at a vintage clothing store sorting the dollar-a-pound clothing and looking for heirloom chic. Overweight Tuesday, April 13, 7 p.m. education. Learning networks, methods utilizing digital 13 and socially awkward at 15, she’s glad she doesn’t have Gregory Orfalea Apr 10 and experiential means, and open-source models are some of the ways the to deal with customers. Then two pushy sales clerks persuade her to spy The Man Who Guarded The Bomb U.S. can harness new technology to educate coming generations. on the stock boy, and life takes a risky turn. (Ages 11-15) (Syracuse Univ., $24.95)

Orfalea, a Georgetown professor of Arab-American Saturday, April 24, 1 p.m. Friday, April 23, 10:30 a.m. literature, follows his book of essays, , with Laura Brodie 24Apr 10 Angeleno Days Joelle Jolivet a collection of linked stories. Exploring family and other Love In A Time Of Homeschooling 23Apr 10 Oops relationships, the fiction chronicles the lives of the Mat- (HarperCollins, $25.99) (Abrams, $17.95) ters, a captivating, tragic, yet ultimately exultant Arab-American family. Disturbed at her ten-year-old’s increasingly unhappy experience with public school, Brodie, a professor and Jolivet’s bright, colorful illustrations bring to life Jean-Luc Fromental’s story of a family racing to Wednesday, April 14, 7 p.m. writer, took charge of her daughter’s education herself. 14 the airport. A mishap involving a slippery bar of soap Apr 10 Bill McKibben This chronicle recounts the difficulties, joys, and lessons Eaarth learned by both teacher and pupil. sets off a hilarious chain of events, and the suspense builds: will they be on time for takeoff? From the best-selling illustrator (Times Books, $24) of 365 Penguins. (Ages 2-6) Since his seminal The End of Nature two decades ago, Saturday, April 24, 6 p.m. McKibben has been nearly synonymous with environ- 24Apr 10 Holly LeCraw mental consciousness. In his new book he concedes The Swimming Pool that human activities have indeed altered the planet. (Doubleday, $25.95) While we can’t restore the former climatic stability, we can learn to A richly plotted Southern Gothic, complete with O An audio edition of this title is inhabit this new Earth in lighter, more sustainable ways. passion, murder, and mystery, LeCraw’s debut novel available to be ordered. explores desire and guilt through the complex rela- L A large-print edition of this tions between two families. When Marcella’s marriage title is available to be ordered. collapses and Cecil, her lover, is killed in a car crash, she unexpectedly finds comfort with Cecil’s son. 20% off P&P Hardcover Bestsellers and all Event Titles for Members throughout April 5015 Connecticut Ave NW Washington, DC 20008 Presorted First-Class Mail US Postage PAID Washington, DC 202.364-1919 800.722-0790 Permit No. 2072 202.966-7532 (fax) books @ politics-prose.com www.politics-prose.com

Store Hours: Monday–Saturday 9 a.m. – 10 p.m. April 2010 Sunday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Events Calendar Owners: Carla Cohen & Barbara Meade

Thursday, April 15, 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 14, 7 p.m. Jennifer Gilmore Bill McKibben

Wednesday, April 14, 7 p.m. Yann Martel

April 2010 Wednesday, April 7, 8:15 p.m. Monday, April 19, 7 p.m. Monday, April 5, 7 p.m. Monday, April 12, 7 p.m. David Remnick Anchee Min Olga Grushin John McPhee

Thursday, April 1, 7 p.m. Saturday, April 3, 6 p.m. Book Groups 1 Apr3 10 Nicholas Schou Adrienne Mayor Apr 10 P & P book groups meet monthly, and are free and open to the public. Orange Sunshine The Poison King Book group titles are 20% off for attendees. Read the book and join us! (Princeton Univ., $29.95) (Thomas Dunne, $24.99) This trip back to the 1960s recounts the colorful his- A finalist for the National Book Award, Mayor’s • Capital James Joyce Club (1st Thursday, 7:30 p.m.) tory of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a counter- study of Mithradates brings the first century B.C. 4/1: Ulysses (chapter 15) Circe cultural group influenced by Timothy Leary. Based in to vivid life. The leader of the ancient Black Sea • Classics (1st Monday, 7:30 p.m.) California, the members specialized in surfing, pro- kingdom of Pontus was a purported descendant of 4/5: The Tain, by Carson Alexander the Great, a tireless enemy of the Romans, and apparently an duced their own brand of LSD, and advocated a spiritual utopianism. • Daytime (3rd Wednesday, 12:30 p.m.) expert in poisons, responsible for one of the first attempted genocides 4/21: Imperium, by Kapuscinski in Western history. Monday, April 5, 7 p.m. Olga Grushin 5 • Evening Fiction (2nd Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.) Apr 10 4/13: Unaccustomed Earth, by Lahiri Friday, April 2, 7 p.m. The Line • Fascinating History (4th Thursday, 7:30 p.m.) Apr2 10 Zoe Fitzgerald Carter (Putnam, $25.95) Imperfect Endings The second novel by the author of The 4/22: A History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Standage (Simon & Schuster, $25) Dream Life of Sukhanov explores the need for art • Futurist (1st Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.) Exhausted from living with Parkinson’s disease, Cart- in a repressive society. Set in an unnamed country 4/7: Department of Mad Scientists, by Belfiore er’s mother enlisted her three daughters in helping her modeled on the Soviet Union, the narrative follows a • Graphic Novel (1st Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.) end her life. Carter’s memoir recounts a year of the year in the lives of people waiting daily before a closed 4/28: Logicomix, by Doxiadis “exit plans” she was reluctantly drawn into, including kiosk to buy tickets for a concert by a famed émigré composer based on • Modern Japanese Literature (3rd Monday 7:30) her family’s experience with the Hemlock Society and the three sisters’ Stravinsky. 4/19: The Woman with the Flying Head, by Kurahishi different responses to their mother’s request. • Poetry (4th Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.) 4/27: the April 2010 issue of Poetry magazine Saturday, April 3, 1 p.m. • Public Affairs (4th Monday, 7:30 p.m.)

Sarah Pekkanen Apr3 10 4/26: TBD The Opposite Of Me Author Photo Credits • Science Fiction & Fantasy (2nd Thurs., 7:30 p.m.) (Washington Square, $15) Anchee Min - Naishi Min Yann Martel - Alice Kuipers 4/8: Triplanetary, by Smith This debut novel features fraternal twins who are John McPhee - Yolanda Whitman Bill McKibben - Nancie Battaglia • Spanish Language (3rd Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.) nothing like each other. Alex is a stunning beauty, Olga Grushin - Philipe Matsas - Opale 4/20: La Isla Bajo el Mar, by Allende Lindsey a successful advertising executive. But when • Spirituality (3rd Sunday, 6 p.m.) Lindsey loses her job and moves back home just as 4/18: TBD Alex is planning a lavish wedding, the sisters’ lifelong tensions come to Our Membership Dues Have Changed • Teen (4th Sunday, 3:30 p.m.) a head. Since January 1, 2010 4/25: TBD • Travel (1st Tuesday, 7 p.m.) $25 - 1 Year $45 - 2 Years $100 - 5 Years 4/6: Travels in a Thin Country, by Wheeler • Women’s Biography (2nd Monday, 7:30 p.m.) 4/12: TBD

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 7 p.m. 2 7 p.m. 3 1 p.m. Adrienne Mayor Zoe Fitzgerald Carter Sarah Pekkanen April 2010 The Poison King Imperfect Endings The Opposite Of Me 6 p.m. 20% off P&P Hardcover Bestsellers and all Nicholas Schou Event Titles for Members throughout April Orange Sunshine

4 5 7 p.m. 6 7 p.m. 7 7 p.m. 8 7 p.m. 9 7 p.m. 10 1 p.m. Olga Grushin Michael O’Brien Christopher Moore Roxana Saberi Seth Stevenson Laura Skandera Trombley Mark Twain’s Other Woman The Line Mrs. Adams In Winter Bite Me Between Two Worlds Grounded 3:30 p.m. Julian E. Zelizer 8:15 p.m. Arsenal Of Democracy The Avalon Theatre 6 p.m. David Remnick Arthur Allen The Bridge Ripe

11 1 p.m. 12 10:30 a.m. 13 10:30 a.m. 14 7 p.m. 15 7 p.m. 16 7 p.m. 17 1 p.m. Thomas E. Kennedy S. Terrell French Jackie Urbanovic Bill McKibben Jennifer Gilmore Craig Yoe Carl Hoffman In The Company Of Angels (in conversation w/ Andre Dubus III) Operation Redwood Sitting Duck Eaarth Something Red The Great Anti-War Cartoons The Lunatic Express 3:00 p.m. Wendy Mass 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 6 p.m. Finally John McPhee Gregory Orfalea Sixth & I Aviva Goldfarb 5 p.m. Silk Parachute The Man Who Guarded The Bomb Yann Martel SOS! Nancy Sherman Beatrice And Virgil The Untold War 18 1:00 p.m. 19 7 p.m. 20 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 22 7 p.m. 23 10:30 a.m. 24 1 p.m. Erica Perl Anchee Min Roger Lowenstein 21 Mark Kurlansky Jeff Shesol Joelle Jolivet Laura Brodie Vintage Victoria Pearl Of China The End Of Wall Street The Eastern Stars Supreme Power Oops Love In A Time (in conversation w/ EJ Dionne) Of Homeschooling 5 p.m. 7 p.m. Jacqueline Winspear Anya Kamenetz 6 p.m. The Mapping Of Love And Death DIY U Holly LeCraw The Swimming Pool

25 1 p.m. 26 7 p.m. 27 7 p.m. 28 7 p.m. 29 7 p.m. 30 7 p.m. 1 Chester Hartman and Nick Bunker Daniele Mastrogiacomo Bruce Feiler Andrew Young and Robert Remini Gregory D. Squires Making Haste From Babylon Days Of Fear The Council Of Dads Kabir Sehgal At The Edge Of The Precipice The Integration Debate Walk In My Shoes

5 p.m. 2010 Big Read with Gayle Wald