Politics and Prose Presents

Politics and Prose
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Politics and Prose is a large, independent bookstore uniquely situated in the nation’s capital and serving a broad array of Washington readers, writers, thinkers, teachers, and policy-makers. In addition to our incredible selection of titles, Politics and Prose offers more than 500 public events each year, bringing leading authors across all genres to venues in Washington, DC. Visit us online at www.politics-prose.com.

  1. 13h ago

    Dave Zirin — The People's Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn

    A biography of iconic radical historian Howard Zinn, examining his life and work as a progressive icon and thought leader through the story of the times that shaped him as well as the United States of America.From The Nation magazine columnist and New York Times bestselling author Dave Zirin, The People's Historian is a deeply researched biography of Howard Zinn, the beloved author of the classic national bestseller with more than four million copies sold, A People's History of the United States. With input from family and access to Zinn's personal papers, The People's Historian paints a picture of the man behind A People's History, examining his work and legacy in the broader context of the United States. Dave Zirin is the sports editor at The Nation magazine, their first sports editor in 160 years of existence. The author of eleven books on the politics of sports, including most recently The Kaepernick Effect and the NAACP Image Award nominated The John Carlos Story, Zirin has also worked as an advisor for filmmakers and documentarians such as Ang Lee and Ken Burns. Named one of UTNE Reader’s “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World,” Zirin has been a frequent guest on ESPN, MSNBC, and CNN. The Zinn Education Project provides free people's history lessons, classes, and study groups for teachers in all states and territories -- with a growing number of teachers each year committed to teaching outside the textbook. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780593473658?ic_referral=wtxrv4LbVKb0tWL-UoZHNbzAqkk_aK7f79r2d9sZ_lwwM5E7Ob21gttjzHknlCUs-a-REZigH5LHRbjtnN0GKdKxeP6Cw_9KbedqeJNTDTJd7f3uxzs-miwCy2tziBbCVJqcx7s

  2. 21h ago

    Paul L. Kimmel, M.D —The Body's Keepers: A Social History of Kidney Failure and Its Treatments

    A remarkable account of the kidney and the scientific, medical, and health evolution tied to our understanding of it. The kidney is an extraordinary organ - in many ways the regulator, the metronome, the keeper of the human body's delicate equilibrium. On a given day, minute by minute, it purifies the body of toxins it encounters from diet, climate, activity, and injury. It allows us to be and to move in the world. And yet most of us know so very little about these extraordinary vessels nestled in our bodies - and indeed millions of us only really learn about them when they stop working. Nearly a million Americans every year have end stage kidney disease, about 37 million have some form of chronic kidney disease. And it is an incredibly common universe of challenge and ailment that, until relatively recently, would simply kill those afflicted with it. Renowned nephrologist Dr. Paul Kimmel takes us on an eye-opening journey through the history of kidney disease, dialysis, and transplantation. Drawing on both his extensive research and decades of experience in the field, he explains the development of treatments, technologies, and medical practices that have advanced the care of patients with kidney disease. Kimmel illuminates the impact of medical advances on the lives of those suffering from this debilitating disease and offers a clear understanding of the challenges that remain. The Body's Keepers also reveals the inequities and injustices at the heart of America's healthcare system. Filled with case studies, personal histories, and first-hand accounts, the book reveals the shocking truth about the exploitation of vulnerable populations in the pursuit of profit. Kimmel examines how disparities in access to care have led to life-threatening consequences for many Americans. He also looks at the ways in which the medical industry has profited from the suffering of others, and how the path to health equity is still far from being realized. With unflinching honesty and a passionate commitment to social justice, his book is an essential read for anyone looking to understand the complexities of modern healthcare. Paul L. Kimmel, M.D., M.A.C.P., F.R.C.P., F.A.S.N. is Clinical Professor of Medicine Emeritus at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Born in Brooklyn, he was educated at Canarsie High School, Yale College, and New York University School of Medicine. He is a Master of the American College of Physicians, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Physicians in London. In 2019 he received the Belding H. Scribner Memorial Award from the American Society of Nephrology, for "outstanding contributions that have a direct impact on the care of patients with renal disorders or have substantially changed the practice of nephrology." He has taught medical students, housestaff and faculty over the last forty years at informal and invited lectures, nationally and internationally, and has cared for patients for more than thirty years. Kimmel is the author of more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and an editor of monographs on HIV-associated kidney diseases, nutrition in patients with kidney disease, psychosocial aspects of kidney disease and a textbook entitled Chronic Renal Disease. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9798887700304?ic_referral=o2qDcgdoa0Ns451cKc9ZZ6cz_FVTxxm-OgsgMLHA3jUwM7gwvQACAMOn-GTDaY8PDnbJ6djDYWBSRXdEBh5HSOHgXTyBTy3RZvNw21eD9FuhORVY1k5kZPB1ezhCoYcYfg4Oezo

  3. 1d ago

    George Pelecanos — The Blue Flame

    From George Pelecanos, bestselling author and Emmy-nominated writer for HBO’s The Wire and Treme: private investigator Derek Strange returns, in a riveting drama about revenge, greed, and redemption.He was curious. It was the cop in him. That flame was still alive.The neon “Strange Investigations” sign may be flickering in disrepair outside his office, but private investigator Derek Strange is still accepting new cases. When a flashy drug lawyer hires him to prove an alibi for an accused murderer, Strange can’t help getting drawn into the darkness. In his hunt for answers, he stands his ground against some of Washington, D.C.’s most dangerous criminals, and a police department that doesn’t entirely welcome his interference. As the violence escalates and claims another victim, the raised stakes force Strange to question his own moves. Are his instincts still intact?The Blue Flame is signature Pelecanos: tough, smart, rich with details of a time and place—and at its core, exposing the good and bad that exist side by side in so-called heroes and villains alike. George Pelecanos is the bestselling author of twenty-three novels and story collections set in and around Washington, D.C.  He was a writer and producer on HBO’s The Wire, The Pacific, Treme, The Deuce, We Own This City, and the feature film D.C. Noir.  He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9781538779101?ic_referral=BU-RbmuoEm5iH1RCd3yQ6xednc7OEVAPxcXVZMNOi5UwM_JMsJ_ef-LUZulpy4p72jbzEjagqtWxlX9XNuV4aW6OE_-WhOxNFbLgHxtkeKErBc88lUxpwV1URYtU4pwA6JCRaic

  4. 1d ago

    Charles O'Malley & Scott W. Stern — Shakespeare's Margaret: The Dramatic Life of a Warrior Queen

    Shakespeare's most powerful female character, her historical inspiration, and her reinventions in performance through the centuries. She is more violent than Lady Macbeth, more complex than Ophelia, more strategic than King Lear’s daughters. She is the only Shakespearean character, male or female, whose entire life—from youth to old age—appears on stage. She is a wealth of insight into Shakespeare’s understanding of, and influence on, ideas of gender and sexuality, and she speaks by far the most lines of any of his female characters. She has allowed the likes of Peggy Ashcroft, Helen Mirren, and Sophie Okonedo full range for their stunning talents. Yet today, most audiences have still never heard of Margaret of Anjou. But who was Margaret? In the fifteenth century, she was a fourteen-year-old French princess married to an English king, soon thrust into command amid a bloody civil war. A hundred and fifty years later, she was resurrected on the Elizabethan stage in four of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, Henry VI, Parts 1, 2, and 3 and Richard III. And in every era since the Bard’s, actors, directors, and producers have recast their own Margaret, slicing, dicing, and rearranging the original Shakespeare to highlight or diminish Margaret’s role depending on the sensibilities of the time. It is this evolution of Margaret’s portrayal that Charles O’Malley and Scott W. Stern track in Shakespeare’s Margaret, from Elizabethan boy-actors in wigs enacting misogynist fears of witchy women to feminist celebrations of Margaret’s uninhibited grasp of power and clever commentaries on global politics and world leaders such as Margaret Thatcher. Her story, as it has changed over the centuries across the page and on the stage, brings to life the evolution of theatre and shows how Shakespeare’s plays have always been living collaborations among actors, directors, writers, critics, and history itself, still unfolding. Charles O’Malley holds a doctorate in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism from the Yale School of Drama and has worked at theatres across the United States. He is the editor of Toward a Just Pedagogy of Performance.Scott W. Stern is a scholar and critic. He is the author of The Trials of Nina McCall, a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, and There Is a Deep Brooding in Arkansas, which the Times called “powerful new history.” PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9781324076551?ic_referral=Y4iarS7vG3qnIUygNHnFXVsPYGm2WVq66F_9Fem6XE8wM949is8hpt3O-Ielyx4tgLklMckiZgS0zqShrh__PCP6ekOa52mzAUynqtJAfLGAqxq4FCJ0MLhNW4utWsV4_xJfMGU

  5. 2d ago

    Annie Jacobsen — Biological War: A Scenario - with Shane Harris

    From Annie Jacobsen, the author of the bestselling Nuclear War: A Scenario, a book on a subject that has long orbited her reporting: biological warfare.A lab accident, a bio-attack, a global pandemic, and the collapse of human society. In this essential new book, based on dozens of new interviews with experts with high-level political, governmental, medical, and military responsibility, Annie Jacobsen examines this very scenario. It would be only a matter of days from such a global infection before the infrastructure built to handle this gravest of situations would be in a battle for human existence.The fallout: mass death, total societal breakdown, widespread insurrection, anarchy, and a plague-ravaged wasteland that no longer resembles modern civilization. In other words: dystopia.Following the gripping narrative style that launched Nuclear War to the New York Times bestseller list, Jacobsen looks deeply at a situation that is in some ways the opposite of a nuclear bomb: There is no mushroom cloud, no shock wave or blast. Instead, the scenario that could end the world as we know it begins with something so small, and something so malicious, that when used for evil, only evil can result. This is what could happen; a ticking-clock roadmap to the hours, days, and weeks following the release of a biological agent, that serves as the most essential, forward-looking journalism in preparation for urgent societal upheaval. Annie Jacobsen is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Nuclear War, Area 51, and Operation Paperclip, the Pulitzer Prize finalist in history The Pentagon’s Brain, First Platoon, and other books. She was a contributing editor at the Los Angeles Times Magazine. A graduate of Princeton University, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons. Jacobsen’s books have been named Best of the Year and Most Anticipated by outlets including The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Boston Globe. Coverage has ranged from the New York Times to Joe Rogan’s podcast. Audiences have included the Vatican and the United Nations. Jacobsen is in conversation with Shane Harris, a staff writer at The Atlantic. He has written about intelligence, security, and foreign policy for more than two decades. Previously, he was a staff writer for The Washington Post, where he was part of the team that won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. For his work as a writer, podcaster, and filmmaker, he has received the James Beard Media Award, the Gerald R. Ford Prize, the George Polk Award, and an Emmy nomination. He is the author of two books, The Watchers and @War. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9798217046034?ic_referral=rMdRJ-6d8Pdym_Ei4xDjgqmgGiRkGz2x4JHJ5swcO1MwM-LBsljHy_U0oPQSKRpkejnhrfTe18PKF0Fwijby7BjjMy-BeHsT-H7Vx32M-696JynwdYHifQ_Y6HY9nEqJ5Uj0-O0

  6. 5d ago

    Robert G. Parkinson —Tyrants and Rogues: Understanding the Declaration of Independence - with Lindsay M. Chervinsky

    From an acclaimed historian, a revelatory account of the Declaration of Independence, centered not on the lofty preamble but on the specific grievances that make up the bulk of the document and that offer an entirely new view into the Revolutionary era. We think of the Declaration of Independence as timeless. We know the sacred phrases: “all men are created equal,” “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” “self-evident truths,” “certain inalienable rights.” These are some of the most important words human beings have ever written. And they are all from the Declaration’s preamble, which has inspired people for centuries, including generations of revolutionaries all over the world. But as historian Robert G. Parkinson points out, the Declaration was not written as a timeless statement of political philosophy. It was, rather, produced in the heat of a confusing, bloody, and desperate war. And in that moment, it wasn’t high ideals alone that drove the patriots forward. Parkinson’s great innovation is to allow us, 250 years on, to see the Declaration as its authors did. For them, the opening paragraphs were not the main event. It was the body of the Declaration—the twenty-seven grievances against King George—that formed the essential part. Even Thomas Jefferson would have been puzzled by history’s fixation on his opening sentences. Parkinson takes us into the grievances, giving us stories of the Revolutionary era that are little known today but loomed large for the patriots. As the leaders of the Revolution saw it, they had been pushed to the breaking point by British officials who undermined colonial legislatures and courts, corrupted the judiciary, turned military power against civilians, inflamed slave revolts, forced colonists to fight one another—ultimately, waging war on their own people. In his brilliantly original reading of the Declaration, Parkinson asks fundamental questions that have too often been overlooked: Why did the colonies declare independence when they did? What were their nonnegotiable demands? Who were the individuals whose actions made reconciliation impossible? By recovering the people and conflicts behind the Declaration’s grievances, Parkinson offers a strikingly new account of the American Revolution—and shows that the issues that most alarmed colonists in 1776 are urgent once again today. Robert G. Parkinson is professor of history at Binghamton University. He is the author of The Common Cause, Thirteen Clocks, and Heart of American Darkness. He lives in Charles Town, West Virginia. Parkinson is joined in conversation with Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky, a presidential historian and Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon. Dr. Chervinsky is the author of the award-winning books Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic and The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, and co-editor of Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture. Dr. Chervinsky regularly writes for public audiences in publications like the Washington Post, TIME, USA Today, CNN, The Wall Street Journal and provides commentary and historical context for outlets like CBS News, C-SPAN, Face the Nation, the New York Times, and NPR. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9781324124542?ic_referral=8EWddKrzaPe4ObQF9XKxhAHF8eqj9CT1-y0TKCPw56UwM1-Kg5g0cEWFAalPCqd-E_VPoBaZK5A9ePw9h9ln8Up7Tm3kpR2Yr0DQEpDedV327a_f_2BOL8ooNuM7zElhguE7_LA

  7. 6d ago

    Donica Merhazion — Born at the End of the World - with Bsrat Mezghebe

    In 1970s Ethiopia, 13-year-old Elen, determined to escape her arranged marriage, secretly abandons her tiny village hoping to find her aunt living in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. Meanwhile, Girmai escapes his abusive stepmother after the death of his beloved father, only to end up homeless and starving on the streets of the city. Overcoming the odds, Elen and Girmai both grow up to be successful business owners, each with their own lives and families When the Derg regime overthrows the government, they turn Asmara into a nightmare of roaming bands of soldiers, who torture and kill civilians with impunity. Refusing to accept the injustice and mass killings of the Red Terror campaign, Elen and Girmai join the Eritrean People's Liberation Front's (EPLF) underground network to fight for freedom. The stakes rise as the horror of Derg-sanctioned torture leaks out of dissident detention centers. Elen and Girmai struggle to maintain their precarious fight for justice and a growing passion for each other. As they fall in love, they are faced with impossible choices, tragedy, and heroism in a cause much bigger than their own lives. Based on a true story, Born at the End of the World is a powerful narrative of patriotism, love, camaraderie, and courage, no less uplifting or appalling than Schindler's List. Donica Merhazion, born in the midst of Ethiopia's Red Terror, channels her family's experiences into her debut novel, Born at the End of the World. A former journalist and educator with degrees in journalism and education, she calls Eritrea, Zambia, and the United States home. Passionate about storytelling, she inspires her students to love learning and embrace their potential while finding time to write in her favorite quiet spots. Merhazion is in conversation with Bsrat Mezghebe. Mezghebe received an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University. Her writing has appeared in Guernica, The Paris Review, and the anthology Well–Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves. She lives in the Washington, D.C. area.  PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9781960803337?ic_referral=NaUCwsjtx3oQxs9ZjcNVGB3R0W8XigH8AbDFmKqU4tcwMyzstpA0_so7hPvWgO4DeQs5KXJTM5Qyr4ibq-hu3rUh0MSxqsJk_n9A1_kEidugvfK4LbEN7uwtXwhycw9fmpMcMxs

  8. Aug 12

    Rhonda M. Roorda — Torn from the Root: A Memoir of a Black Transracial Adoptee -with Jelani Freeman

    As a Black child adopted out of the New York foster care system as a toddler and raised by white Evangelical parents, Rhonda Roorda had to learn how to walk in two different worlds. She often questioned “whether my skin was too dark” and if she “acted too white.” She recalls being haunted by feelings of shame and not “being enough.” Torn from the Root is her illuminating story of identity, belonging, and purpose, and lays bare the deep pain she felt navigating life as a vulnerable Black girl and how she healed herself. Roorda suffered trauma and abuse in her youth, but she also developed resilience. Eventually, she resolves to find her birth family and takes readers on her exciting and agonizing journey. Torn from the Root thinks critically about the child welfare system and the long-term impacts of transracial adoption. Roorda helps readers understand her experience, posing necessary questions about the challenges of transracial adoption. Her emotional story, full of wisdom and reflection, recounts how she “accepted the truth” of her adoption and found balance, not discomfort, in her own skin. Rhonda M. Roorda, M.A., is a nationally recognized speaker, author, and consultant on transracial adoption whose insights have been featured on Good Morning America and ABC News, in People magazine, and in the Emmy Award–winning television series This Is Us. A transracial adoptee, she is the author of the acclaimed In Their Voices: Black Americans on Transracial Adoption, recognized as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title, and the coauthor of a groundbreaking trilogy on transracial adoption. Through her writing, research, and speaking, Roorda has become a leading voice exploring identity, belonging, and the lifelong impact of adoption across racial and cultural boundaries. She lives in Michigan with her family. Roorda is in conversation with Jelani Freeman, a community leader, attorney and advocate for children and families. Jelani’s commitment to children & families grew from his lived experience of being placed in the foster care system at the age of 8. Jelani spent time in multiple foster homes, shelters, group homes and juvenile facilities,  but later in life was sworn into the New York State Bar by the very same court system that emancipated him from the foster care system at 18 years old, leaving him on his own. Pursuing his passion to serve the underserved, Jelani began his career in the office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, working legislatively to improve the lives of children in the foster care system. Subsequently, he provided direct services to young people at the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. His dedication to transforming the foster care system he endured and give back to young people navigating those all-too-familiar circumstances is the reason that Hillary Clinton in her book, It Takes a Village, wrote that when she needs inspiration, she looks to people like Jelani who “now works to bring opportunity to another generation of kids at risk." Jelani has served for years as a Board Member for non-profits such as the Center for Adoption Support & Education, Barker Adoption Foundation, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and currently serves as a Board Member for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Jelani relished being a mentor and an advocate for the rights of children in the DC foster care system in his role as a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and also regularly volunteered at Martha’s Table since 2011. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9781439927939?ic_referral=UE5qwtDk96xgdMBhYlQ5GxZ5bFT0rzYeLrJcZXQoOGowMzoBIzSk4BlmuXYccz3nldUY2dYiJcJTAyxhNPJhZIUCCGtPxlWkchV4tb69MJSbNiYh9AWGfjlFxxOetsCvMVMSUYQ

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About

Politics and Prose is a large, independent bookstore uniquely situated in the nation’s capital and serving a broad array of Washington readers, writers, thinkers, teachers, and policy-makers. In addition to our incredible selection of titles, Politics and Prose offers more than 500 public events each year, bringing leading authors across all genres to venues in Washington, DC. Visit us online at www.politics-prose.com.

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  • Creator
    Politics and Prose
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    742
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Politics and Prose
  • Show Website
    Politics and Prose Presents

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