Club Members Showcased at Book Fair, Nov. 9

NPC members Thomas Allen, Maurine Beasley, Paul Dickson, Kristie Miller and Amy Henderson will join 100 nationally known writers autographing and selling their books at the Book Fair & Authors' Night from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 9.

For a contribution of $25, you can join fellow patrons in promoting a love of books and reading at this year's Book Fair. As a Friend of the Book Fair, members will receive a complimentary raffle ticket (a $10 value) for a chance to win one of a group of exciting prizes, including round-trip Amtrak Acela tickets to New York City and a golf outing in Virginia. Your generosity will support the Club's Eric Friedheim National Journalism Library, a 501 (c)(3) that provides training, research and resources for news professionals and scholarships for the next generation of journalists. Click here to become a Friend of the Book Fair: http://press.org/library/book-fair/friends

Admission to the 33nd annual fair is free for NPC members, $5 for non-members.

No outside books permitted. A full list of participants is listed on the Club’s web site: http://press.org/library/book-fair

Authors in the History category include (NPC members noted by an asterisk):

*Thomas B. Allen – “Tories: Fighting for the King in America's First Civil War” $26.99

Drawing on letters, diaries and other primary sources, Allen challenges the traditional notion that all the colonists wanted to overthrow the oppressive British government. Instead, he argues that a substantial portion of Americans remained loyal to Britain. Even families were divided, making the Revolution a civil war that often pitted sons against fathers and brothers against brothers.

Norbetto Angeletti and Alberto Oliva – “Time: The Illustrated History of the World's Most Influential Magazine” $50

Angeletti and Oliva explore Time magazine’s documentation of seminal moments in history, including the moon landing, the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam, the Gulf War and the Sept. 11 attacks. They investigate the reasons behind "Man of the Year," transitions in design, the creation of the symbolic red frame, the important designers and illustrators, the covering of both hot and soft news, as well as the magazine's changeover to the 21st century and the creation international editions.

*Maurine H. Beasley - “Eleanor Roosevelt: Transformative First Lady” $29.95

Presiding in the White House longer than any other first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt championed the downtrodden as she traveled the globe, yet she was a maze of contradictions -- an idealist who carried on a moneymaking career that depended on her position and a conventional-appearing wife and mother who found emotional succor from intense relationships outside her family. This book reveals how Eleanor operated, both in and out of public view, to advance the causes in which she believed by participating in the political process.

Avrom Bendavid-Val – “The Heavens Are Empty: Discovering the Lost Town of Trochenbrod” $25.95

Trochenbrod was the only freestanding, fully realized Jewish town in history. It began with a few Jewish settlers searching for freedom from the Russian czars' oppressive policies. It became a bustling marketplace. But Trochenbrod vanished in 1941by the Nazis. But the spirit of Trochenbrod has lived on in stories and legends.

*Paul Dickson – “On This Spot: Pinpointing the Past in Washington D.C.” $16.95

A lively account of Washington, DC’s history, people, and neighborhoods is illustrated with fascinating archival photos.

Leslie Dunton-Downer – “The English is Coming!: How One Language is Sweeping the World” $24

English has fast become the No.1 language in business, science, diplomacy, education, entertainment, environmentalism and socializing. Through the stories of 30 English words used and understood in nearly all corners of the globe, Dunton-Downer takes readers on a journey across culture and commerce, war and peace, and time and space.

Phil Gallo - “Record Store Days: From Vinyl to Digital and Back Again” $19.95

“Record Store Days” takes a look back at the retail refuges that enthralled at least three generations of music lovers.

Mark Feldstein – “Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson, and the Rise of Washington's Scandal Culture” $30

Feldstein recounts not only the story of an unprecedented White House conspiracy to assassinate a journalist but also the larger tale of the bitter quarter-century battle between the postwar era’s most embattled politician and its most reviled newsman. The struggle between Nixon and Anderson included bribery, blackmail, forgery, spying and burglary as well as the White House murder plot.

Ted Gup – “A Secret Gift: How One Man's Kindness—and a Trove of Letters—Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression” $25.95

Shortly before Christmas 1933, a small newspaper ad offered $10, no strings attached, to 75 families in distress. Interested readers were asked to submit letters describing their hardships to a benefactor calling himself Mr. B. Virdot. The book is an account of the stories of Depression-era families who were helped by gifts from the author's generous and secretive grandfather.

Ales Kershaw - “The Envoy: The Epic Rescue of the Last Jews of Europe in the Desperate Closing Months of World War II” $26

Kershaw tells the epic and heroic story of how Raoul Wallenberg out-dueled Adolph Eichmann and saved more than 100,000 Jews in Budapest from the Nazi death camps.

Kee Malesky - “All Facts Considered: The Essential Library of Inessential Knowledge” $19.95

An NPR librarian's compendium of fascinating facts on history, science, and the arts, “All Facts Considered” is packed with nuggets of inessential yet irresistible information.

*Kristie Miller -- “Ellen and Edith: Woodrow Wilson's First Ladies” $34.95

Miller explores how Woodrow Wilson's two wives influenced his time in office, drawing a close connection between personal struggle and political action.

Bridgette Polmar, Norman Polmar – “Washington DC's Most Wanted?: The Top 10 Book of Tourist Treasures, Powerful Politicians, and Capital Wonders” $13.95

Part tour guide, part trivia book, Bridgette and Norman Polmar show you the ins and outs of Washington’s famous, and not so famous, tourist destinations.

Henry E. Scott – “Shocking True Story: The Rise and Fall of Confidential, America's Most Scandalous Scandal Magazine" $26

The never-before-told tale of Confidential magazine, America’s first tabloid, which changed our notion of privacy, our image of ourselves, and the practice of journalism in America.

Ari Shapiro – “This is NPR: The First Forty Years” $29.95

This book is an intimate look at the news and stories that have shaped our world, from the people who were on the ground and on the air. With contributions from Steve Inskeep, Neal Conan, Robert Siegel, Nina Totenberg, Linda Wertheimer, Scott Simon, Melissa Block, P.J. O'Rourke, David Sedaris, Sylvia Poggioli, Paula Poundstone, and many more.

Evan Thomas - “The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire, 1898” $29.99

Depressed by the "closing" of the Western frontier and embracing theories of social Darwinism, a group of warmongers that included a young Teddy Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge agitated loudly and incessantly that the U.S. exert its influence across the seas. The hawks transformed American foreign policy and, when Roosevelt became president, commence with a devastating war.

James Swanson – “Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln's Corpse” $27.99

“Bloody Crimes” brings to life two events of the Civil War era: the chase to apprehend Confederate President Jefferson Davis in the wake of the Lincoln assassination and the 20-day funeral that took Lincoln’s body home to Springfield, Ill.

Phillip Terzian -- “Architects of Power: Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and the American Century” $19.95

Terzian examines two public figures in the 20th century who personify the rise of the U.S. to global leadership, Roosevelt and Eisenhower, who recognized and acted on the global threats of their time.

*Alfred Wertheim & Amy Henderson -- “Elvis 1956” $29.95

This is an unguarded look at Elvis, featuring images of him in every aspect of his life - from performance and with the fans, to the recording studio and at home with his family – and includes photos never before published. “Elvis 1956” serves as the catalogue for a nationally traveling exhibition to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the rock star's birth.

-- Julie Schoo, [email protected]