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.