Author Q&A with Michael O’Hanlon
Author Q&A , Latest Posts / February 6, 2012

Michael O’Hanlon, author of The Wounded Giant (my thoughts), is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, where he specializes in U.S. defense strategy, the use of military force, homeland security and American foreign policy. He is a visiting lecturer at Princeton University and adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University, and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Books by Michael O’Hanlon Q. Why do you refer to America as “The Wounded Giant” and do you think its fair to do so? A. It is of course designed to be a colorful term but I think it’s accurate. The United States remains far and away the world’s superpower in military (and many other) terms. But it is badly hurting and its future dominance – as well as its ability to play a stabilizing role internationally — is in question. This is less from the rise of China (or anyone else) per se, than from the wounds (largely self-inflicted) from which it is currently suffering, starting with trillion dollar annual deficits and an eroding economic foundation. Q. What is the most important thing you would like readers to take away from your book? A. That the…

Author Q&A with Yona Zeldis McDonough
Author Q&A , Latest Posts / November 30, 2011

Author Yona Zeldis McDonough (web­site) wrote The Cats in the Doll Shop (my thoughts) which not only did I like, but my daughter (who is turning 7 today) liked as well. My daughter had some questions for Ms. McDonough and here is the best Author Q&A ever – that of a proud father. Q.Why did you put cats in the book? A. Many years ago, my husband and used to watch the comings and goings of a stray, pregnant cat outside the back window of our apartment in NYC. The cat had her kittens in an unused dresser drawer that had been stowed on a terrace. When the owner discovered the kittens, she swept them off the terrace with a broom. Two died, and three survived; one of the survivors broke his leg in the fall. The broken limb atrophied and eventually fell off but the three legged kitten managed to get around anyway. We worried about how he would manage, and left food out for him. He became surprisingly agile for a three legged cat and we came to love him for his spirit and his resilience. He was the model for the cat in my story. | Q. I…

Author Q&A with David Mar­golick
Author Q&A , Latest Posts / October 17, 2011

David Margolick’s book Elizabeth and Hazel (my thoughts) is a fascinating book about two fascinating women. The book tackles tough and sensitive issues while following the trials and tribulations of Eliz­a­beth Eck­ford and Hazel Bryan were cap­tured for pros­per­ity in a pho­to­graph by Will Counts while on Elizabeth’s first day at the newly desegregated Central High School in Little Rock, AR. Q. What prompted you to write Elizabeth and Hazel? A. I had known and been fascinated by the famous photograph of Elizabeth and Hazel, taken in front of Little Rock Central High School during the desegregation crisis of 1957, as long as I can remember. Who, after all, doesn’trecognize Hazel’s hate-filled face? It has come to represent all of the malice and racism of the South during the early days of the Civil Rights movement, while Elizabeth, dignified and stoic, personifies the great courage of blacks fighting bigotry. So when I went to Little Rock in 1999 and learned, from a poster at the Central High School National Historic Site showing the two of them, as grown women, apparently reconciled — they were smiling and seeming at ease with one another — I wanted to know how something so improbable had ever come to pass. So I started…

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