Politics and Prose Presents

Isaac Fitzgerald — American Rambler: Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed - with Ben Smith

New York Times bestselling author Isaac Fitzgerald sets off to the heart of America, following the path of the legendary Johnny Appleseed on an epic journey that both takes him far from home and brings him closer to it. “It’s a difficult thing, to separate legend from story from memory from fact.” As a child, Isaac Fitzgerald was always captivated by Johnny Appleseed, drawn by family ties to the legend, his father’s larger-than-life stories, and a shared restlessness to leave home and discover what lies beyond. In American Rambler [https://politics-prose.com/book/9780593537794], he sets out, walking from Massachusetts to Indiana on a year-long journey to follow Appleseed’s path, turning a childhood fascination into a profound reckoning of loss and grief, ritual and faith, grimy gas-station bathrooms and scenic apple picking. A moving blend of memoir, history, and travelogue, American Rambler is at once an ode to the American heartland and an antidote to the breakneck pace of modern life. Isaac Fitzgerald is the New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts. He is also the author of the bestselling children’s book How to Be a Pirate as well as the co-author of Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them and Knives & Ink: Chefs and the Stories Behind Their Tattoos (winner of an IACP Award). He appears frequently on The Today Show, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Esquire, GQ, The Guardian, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and numerous other publications. He lives with his wife on the North Fork of Long Island. Fitzgerald is in conversation with Ben Smith, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Semafor, where he oversees the production of Semafor’s weekly Media newsletter. Prior to Semafor, he served as a media columnist for The New York Times and was the founding editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News. With over a decade of experience, Ben has covered American politics, media, and technology at Politico, the New York Daily News, and other outlets. He is the author of Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780593537794?ic_referral=M6djFilqiyD_IYgZVIMHArjlOuN3cLTUFUIZW5E8VLcwM0S7EimxkXjVIV05HoFwgBCdXRQMUt9BSpH60ObdSWP9PS6IFGLwoL-1uKdpfAHPjEZ8fZwpbC6CzEbd8f0QKtNrDMA

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi — Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age - with Leah Greenberg

Recall the words chanted in Charlottesville, Virginia, but heard around the world: “You will not replace us!” Recall the string of mass shooters around the world—in Oslo and Christchurch, Buffalo, El Paso, and Pittsburgh—who claimed their crimes were a defense against “White genocide.” Recall business and media figures cultivating anxiety and furor over demographic change. These incidents only scratch the surface of this ascendant idea: Popular and ruling politicians in every region of the world have been expressing some version of great replacement theory, eroding democratic norms in the name of preventing demographic change and restoring national greatness. What is great replacement theory? Variations on the theory have existed for centuries, but it was given this name by a French novelist in 2011 who believed Black and Brown immigrants were “invading” Europe, brought by shadowy elites to “replace” Europe’s White population. From there, politicians and theorists—whether in the United States or the United Kingdom, Germany or Chile, Hungary or Australia—repackaged the conspiracy as a story of “globalists” welcoming “migrant criminals” and diversity initiatives to take away the jobs, cultures, electoral power, and the very lives of White people. Over time, great replacement theory has expanded the threat to include citizens, men, Jews, Christians, heterosexuals, and ethnic majorities in countries as distinct as Russia, El Salvador, Brazil, Italy, and India. All are targeted with the message that they are under an existential attack that only a strongman can prevent. In our fast-shifting political landscape, most people are unfamiliar with this theory’s origins and its spread, which isn’t a coincidence. In Chain of Ideas, international bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi uses exacting and clear prose to uncover the roots of great replacement theory and its various mutations around the world. It is an unsettling but indispensable global history of how great replacement theory brought humanity into this authoritarian age—and how we can free ourselves from it. Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is one of the world’s foremost historians and leading antiracist scholars. His books have been translated into multiple languages and republished throughout the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Dr. Kendi is Professor of History and the founding director of the Howard University Institute for Advanced Study, an interdisciplinary research enterprise examining global racism. He is author of many highly acclaimed bestsellers including Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction. He is the author of the international bestseller How to Be an Antiracist. Time magazine named Dr. Kendi one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the Genius Grant. Dr. Kendi is in conversation with Leah Greenberg. Greenberg is a co-founder and co-Executive Director of the Indivisible Project. Prior to founding the Indivisible Project, Leah served as Policy Director for the Tom Perriello for Governor of Virginia campaign. She has managed human trafficking grants and programs as an Investments Manager for Humanity United, served as an Advisor to the State Department’s Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, and worked on Capitol Hill for Congressman Tom Perriello (D-VA). PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/ibram-x-kendi

Neal Allen and Anne Lamott — Good Writing 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences

Two writers show you how to turn a worthy sentence into a memorable one. Starting where The Elements of Style leaves off, Good Writing can improve your book, your essay, your memo, your blog post, speech, or script. These essential rules for persuasive language work on any type of writing, and anyone can learn them quickly. Each rule is accompanied by examples and a lively pair of essays, the first by Neal Allen, who developed the list of tips over the course of his journalism and corporate careers; the second by his wife, Anne Lamott, acclaimed author of Bird by Bird and nineteen other nonfiction works and novels. The authors don’t always agree on the specifics, but they are passionate about making better sentences. Neal Allen is a writer, spiritual coach, and speaker. He is the author of Shapes of Truth and Better Days. A former journalist and corporate executive, he holds master’s degrees in Political Science and Eastern Classics. Anne Lamott is the author of twenty books, including the New York Times bestsellers Help, Thanks, Wow; Dusk, Night, Dawn; Traveling Mercies; and Bird by Bird, as well as seven novels. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an inductee to the California Hall of Fame, she lives in Northern California with her family. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/neal-allen-anne-lamott

Lawrence Douglas — The Criminal State: War, Atrocity, and the Dream of International Justice - with Stephen I. Vladeck

Named one of the 30 most anticipated books of 2026 by Foreign Policy, The Criminal State [https://politics-prose.com/book/9780691180410] offers a gripping account of how law has confronted the most radical forms of state violence. Beautifully written, broad in scope, and bracingly original, it weaves history with political thought to trace the shifting legal response to state aggression and atrocities, from Leopold’s rule over the Congo to Putin’s war in Ukraine. At its heart is Lawrence Douglas’s fresh interpretation of the law’s reckoning with Nazi aggression and atrocity. He shows how the Nuremberg trials challenged centuries of thought—rooted in Hobbes and other canonical thinkers—that shielded sovereigns from legal scrutiny. Yet Nuremberg’s bid to frame aggression as the cornerstone of a new order of international criminal law largely failed, giving way to a system now centrally concerned with crimes against humanity and genocide—while leaving unresolved the legality and effectiveness of using force to stop the worst violations of human rights. Providing rare historical perspective on the dilemmas facing international courts, The Criminal State is a sweeping, provocative history of the struggle to bring perpetrators of state violence to justice. Lawrence Douglas is the James J. Grosfeld Professor of Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought at Amherst College. His many books include The Right Wrong Man (Princeton) and The Memory of Judgment. His writing has appeared in leading publications such as Harper's, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist. He is a regular contributor to The Times Literary Supplement and The Guardian. Douglas is in conversation with Stephen I. Vladeck, a professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center, and is a nationally recognized expert on the federal courts; the Supreme Court; national security law; and military justice. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780691180410?ic_referral=O9vkk_LstN1f_MwL_9abiTAv-naU-W1eCAAzu9y6SRQwM6_CLzHXdsdAGF5QdctoUdAjfFdF7VCUzB0BdJmUl1WV9GUSgai8JAvJPwWx99Z8j3OrvDTQ2u7MSqtsd2xjYqmmb4c

Lerone Martin — Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King Jr. - with Kim Martin

From a preeminent King scholar, the origin story of the man, minister, and civil rights hero who would lead the nation and change the world. We know who Martin Luther King, Jr. became, but who was he at the beginning of his life? How did his youth inform his outlook and his approach to activism and service? Before Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights leader, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and a global hero, he was an emotional boy, and a middling high school student devoted to fashion, dancing, and dating. As he headed to college, he left the Jim Crow South for a summer job that would test his oratory skills preaching in the tobacco fields of Connecticut and ultimately give him a sense of hope for a life of racial peace and harmony. Lerone A. Martin, Centennial Professor at Stanford University and the Faculty Director of the Martin Luther King Institute, traces the youthful roots of this legendary American to reveal the makings of a mighty force. Filled with revelations and written with compassion, Young King [https://politics-prose.com/book/9780063340947] offers a new understanding of the influential preacher and activist’s emotional life, his youthful confusion about his future and career direction, his inspiration to fight for justice, his teenage missteps, and his first revelations of courage. As America undergoes another era of turmoil and change, this powerful biography offers encouragement for readers at a similar moment of life and provides an understanding of how greatness comes to light. Martin illuminates both King’s weaknesses and the social failures that shaped him, including the brutal racism he endured growing up. This vital and essential work is a testament to how history shapes a leader. Young King includes rarely seen black-and-white photographs of an adolescent MLK from his high school days and college years. Lerone A. Martin is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor in Religious Studies and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. Dr. Martin is an internationally recognized award-winning author and public speaker. His writing and commentary have been featured on the Today show, the History Channel, PBS, NPR, and C-SPAN as well as in the New York Times and the Boston Globe. He currently serves as senior editor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project and was an adviser on the PBS documentary series Gospel. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Martin is in conversation with Kim Martin, who joined KIPP DC in January 2025 as a Deputy Chief of School Transformation. In this role, she has focused on driving systemic change and enhancing educational outcomes across the network's schools. Kim is a native of Ohio and obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in English and History from Case Western Reserve University, followed by a Master’s degree in Secondary Education from John Carroll University. Once in DC, she furthered her academic pursuits with an Executive Master’s in Leadership and a Certificate in Leadership Coaching, both from Georgetown University and she culminated her educational journey with a Doctorate in Education from American University. Prior to joining KIPP DC, Kim held the position of Instructional Superintendent for DC Public Schools. With a career spanning over 18 years as a high school principal, Kim served as a principal in DC, Ohio, and Colorado. When Kim isn’t working, she can be found listening to live music at the VFW, where she serves on the Auxiliary, or she can be found cooking, hiking, or riding her Peloton. She also serves on the board of the Urban Adventure Squad, which promotes outdoor education for DC youth. Kim lives with her son and her husband in Takoma Park, MD with their two dogs, Rosco and Charlie Brown. PURCHASE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780063340947?ic_referral=TAAIFWSzQT9qcNWDrQvJ3tlmM7yNfYa5hhCNfZPki18wM8eTK-ubhKf9sqWr5aJlBfixw39PzLMEWbCJCAoaIDuXd8TUGcpzQepC3tPjTjlj-Q0g468KsULekQpy2vp8uA9UbZ8