Politics and Prose Presents

Long before the  Moneyball -era, the Earl of Baltimore reigned over baseball. History's feistiest and most colorful manager, Earl Weaver transformed the sport by collecting and analyzing data in visionary ways, ultimately winning more games than anybody else during his time running the Orioles from 1968-1982 When Weaver was hired by the Orioles, managers were still seen as coaches and inspirat...

On her second birthday in 1967, Bernice McFadden died in a car crash near Detroit, only to be resuscitated after her mother pulled her from the flaming wreckage.  Firstborn Girls   traces her remarkable life from that moment up to the publication of her first novel,  Sugar . Growing up in 1980s Brooklyn, Bernice finds solace in books, summer trips to Barbados, and boarding school to escape her alc...

How Americans think about work changed profoundly over the course of the twentieth century. Thrift and persistence came to seem old-fashioned. Successful workers were increasingly expected to show initiative and enthusiasm for change--not just to do their jobs reliably but to create new opportunities for themselves and for others. Our culture of work today is more demanding than ever, even though...

onsters are central to how we think about the human condition. Join award-winning historian of science Dr. Surekha Davies as she reveals how people have defined the human in relation to everything from apes to zombies, and how they invented race, gender, and nations along the way. With rich, evocative storytelling that braids together ancient gods and generative AI, Frankenstein's monster and...

This event is in partnership with the  Kettering Foundation. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, six US presidential administrations of both parties pursued policies for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia that emboldened Russia, playing into its imperialist, centuries-long mythos of regional hegemony. The result: military aggression and full-scale invasion. It was all too foreseeable. In  The Folly...

In this deeply reported narrative, Jeffrey Toobin recreates the behind-the-scenes political melodrama during the tumultuous period leading up to and following Nixon's resignation. The narrative features a rich cast of characters--including Alexander Haig, Nixon's last chief of staff, who pushed for the pardon, and a young Justice Department lawyer named Antonin Scalia, who provided the leg...

You can recall the first TV show, movie, book, or song that made you feel understood--that shaped how you live, what you love, and whom you would become. It gave you an entire worldview. For Ira Madison, that book was Chuck Klosterman's  Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs,  which cemented the idea that pop culture could be a rigorous subject--and that, for better or worse, it shapes all of us. In   P...

As World War III rages, the scientists in Antarctica are thankful for the isolation - until a group of Chinese scientists arrive at the American research base in search of help. In their truck is a horrifying sight, the first ever murder victim in Antarctica. The potential for a geopolitical firestorm is great, and, with no clear jurisdiction, the Americans don't know what to do. But they soon...

It used to be that ravaging another country's economy required blockading its ports and laying siege to its cities. Now all it takes is a statement posted online by the U.S. government. In  Chokepoints , Edward Fishman, a former top State Department sanctions official, takes us deep into the back rooms of power to reveal the untold history of the last two decades of U.S. foreign policy, in whi...

If all children could just get an education, the logic goes, they would have the same opportunities later in life. But this historical tour de force makes it clear that the opposite is true: The U.S. school system has played an instrumental role in creating and upholding racial hierarchies, preparing children to expect unequal treatment throughout their lives. In  Original Sins ,  Ewing demonstrat...

The American Dream of homeownership is becoming an American Delusion. As renters seek an escape from record-breaking rent hikes, first-time buyers find that skyrocketing interest rates and historically low inventory leave them with scant options for an affordable place to live. With home valued more than ever as a commodity, even social housing programs meant to insulate families from cut-throat m...

Decades before the impeachment of an American president for a similar offense, Angelo Herndon was charged under Georgia law with "attempting to incite insurrection"--a crime punishable by death. In 1932, the eighteen-year-old Black Communist Party organizer was arrested and had his room illegally searched and his radical literature seized. Charged under an old slave insurrection statute,...

Everything is about to change. Paige Mahoney is outside the Republic of Scion for the first time in more than a decade-but she has no idea how she got to the free world. Half a year has been wiped from her memory. Her journey back to the revolution soon takes her to Venice, where the Domino Programme has uncovered evidence of a secret Scion plan. Before Paige can return to London, she must help th...

This collection of 100 beautifully balanced recipes for both classic and new cocktails demonstrates the irresistible allure of citrus and sours when paired with spirits. The fascinating history and lore of iconic and universally beloved beverages such as the daiquiri, sidecar, margarita, whiskey sour, and cosmopolitan are mixed with recipes to teach you how to make each of these classic drinks. Ev...

Personal stories have the power to stir the heart, compel us to act, and spark social change. While advocacy organizations have long used storytelling in campaigns, the role technology plays has increased. Today, invitations to "share your story" are widespread on advocacy organizations and political campaign websites, calls to action, and social media pages. But what happens after one c...

In three decades under the leadership of Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch grew to a staff of more than 500, conducting investigations in 100 countries to uncover abuses--and pressuring offending governments to stop them. Roth has grappled with the worst of humanity, taken on the biggest villains of our time, and persuaded leaders from around the globe to stand up to their repressive counterparts....

In June 1936 James Lee Strother performed thirteen songs at the Virginia State Prison Farm for famed folklorist John Lomax and the Library of Congress. Rooted in the rich soil of the Piedmont region, Strother's repertoire epitomized the Black songsters who defy easy classification. Blinded in a steel mill explosion, which only intensified his drive to connect to the world through song, Strothe...

In this groundbreaking biography, Mary Frances Phillips immerses readers in the life and legacy of Ericka Huggins, a revered Black Panther Party member, as well as a mother, widow, educator, poet, and former political prisoner. In 1969, the police arrested Ericka Huggins along with Bobby Seale and fellow Black Panther Party members, who were accused of murdering Alex Rackley. This marked the begin...

Celebrate the life of poet, activist, and renowned legend Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni with fellow poets and writers based in Washington, DC. Bring one of your favorite Nikki Giovanni poems and a poem of your own to read aloud. We will have a sign-up sheet for people to read. This event will be one hour. Featured readers include Tricia Elam Walker, Nina Angela Mercer, Holly Bass, an...

This event is in partnership with  Jewish Currents . In Peter Beinart's view, one story dominates Jewish communal life: that of persecution and victimhood. It is a story that erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition and warps our understanding of Israel and Palestine. After Gaza, where Jewish texts, history, and language have been deployed to justify mass slaughter and starvatio...

Every single child diagnosed with measles represents a system failure--an inexcusable unforced error. The technology to prevent essentially 100 percent of measles cases has been in our hands since before the moon landing. But this serious airborne disease, once seemingly defeated, is resurgent around the globe. Why, at a time when biomedical science is so advanced, do parents turn away from vaccin...

In  Square Moon , Larry Trung La recounts his extraordinary journey from the war-torn streets of South Vietnam to the vibrant culinary scene of Washington, D.C. As one of the "boat people," Larry and his family escaped the devastation of the Vietnam War, enduring a perilous journey across the South China Sea in search of a new life. Arriving in America with little more than hope, Larry&#...

Europe is a place of free movement among nations--or is it? The Schengen area, established in 1985 and today encompassing twenty-nine European countries, allows people, goods, and capital to cross borders without restraint. Schengen transformed European life, advancing both a democratic project of transnational citizenship and a neoliberal project of international free trade. But the right of free...

The artistic vision and business acumen of Michael Kahn, the founding Artistic Director, largely catalyzed this transformation, but so too did the forces of neoliberalism and, more recently, globalization and new media. Accordingly,  Shakespeare in the Theatre: Shakespeare Theatre Company   not only examines directorial decision-making but also 3 decades of social and economic change in the nation...

At the dawn of the twentieth century, Black girls and women faced a harsh career landscape. Domestic labor and sharecropping--which were the least regulated and lowest paying occupations for women in the US economy--were the few available ways for Black women and girls to make a living in Jane Crow America. In response to these circumstances, Nannie Helen Burroughs, the pioneering Black American e...