Thank you all for your enthusiastic reception of our announcement that Barbara and I have selected Brad Graham and Lissa Muscatine as the new "owners-elect" (Brad's term).
During our announcement, speakers noted that Carla connected her community-organizing, urban sensibility, and passion for books and ideas when she founded and built Politics & Prose. Carla would be the first to say that no one could undertake such an effort alone. For 27 years, she and her partner, Barbara Meade, together with our excellent and literate staff, have kept P&P relevant, thriving and influential. Moreover, Barbara and the staff stepped up to provide extraordinary leadership and support when Carla was diagnosed with cancer in November 2009. None of this could have happened without the participation of our customers, loyal and articulately active in the public work of citizen engagement and democratic discourse. Lissa Muscatine and Brad Graham stressed these core ideas and ideals in their opening meeting with P&P staff members.
As I anticipate the promising future of the store, which will build on the commitment of the new owners to its legacy, I contemplate its history. My thoughts turn to lives well lived, starting with Carla and then to three authors, also recently deceased. They presented their books at Politics & Prose and exemplified the best of the democratic discourse to which we have aspired. Each led an exemplary life, and of course, we will miss them all. (Please note that unfortunately nearly all of the books to which I refer are out of print, and must be obtained from used book dealers. You may click on the authors' names to see their still-in-print books, which we can provide for you.)
David
Broder, the legendary and
respected Washington Post
columnist, presented four of his books at P&P. As someone
who always responded to, and at times initiated matters with
David, I know what a superb listener he was. He loved the stuff of
politics and placed high value on those who engaged in public service. We
discussed the qualities that motivated and fostered accountable leadership
in office holders and social movement participants. Being deliberative,
thoughtful and fair mattered to David Broder.
Arnost
Lustig, a Holocaust
survivor who lived under Communist totalitarian rule in Czechoslovakia,
presented his novel Lovely Green Eyes (now out of print) at P & P in 2004. It
tells the story of a 15 year old who survives concentration camp life working
as a prostitute. Mr. Lustig was nominated for the National Book Award, the
Pulitzer Prize and the Booker prize during the course of his writing life. Mr.
Lustig returned to Prague in 2005, honored by Vaclav Havel, the Czech
President, playwright and democratic hero.
Charles Silberman appeared at P&P when it was across the street.
Carla and I admired his work on civil rights, criminal justice and
education. Crisis in Black and White, Crisis in the Classroom, Criminal Violence, Criminal
Justice were
all written long before P&P was even a dream. Mr. Silberman appeared
at P&P for another breakthrough book: A Certain People: American Jews
and Their Lives Today. Mr.
Silberman , with his keen eye caught the emerging renaissance in Jewish religious life and the American
experience. No longer were the old secular-religious fights dominant. Rebirth
and renewal were emerging. Charles Silberman made us feel that we were present
at a creation.
Three authors - each connected
to P&P, and to Carla, each lived his life well, and each
added so much to strengthening the quality of democratic discourse.
