Thursday\, May 20: 5:00 p.m. Eastern
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In gratitude for the support our virtual festival received in 2020\, we are delighted to offer this keynote event free of charge. However\,&nbs p\;registration is r equired.
\n\nABOUT THE BOOK
\nEternal<
/em> \;is the tale of a love triangle that unfolds in the heart of Rom
e\, in the creeping shadow of fascism.
Elisabetta\, Marco\, and Sandro grow up as the best of friends despite their differences. Elisabett a is a feisty beauty who dreams of becoming a novelist\; Marco\, the brash and athletic son in a family of professional cyclists\; and Sandro\, a Je wish mathematics prodigy\, kind-hearted and thoughtful. Their friendship b lossoms to love\, with both Sandro and Marco hoping to win Elisabetta&rsqu o\;s heart.
\n\nBut in the autumn of 1937\, Mussolini asserts his po wer\, aligning Italy&rsquo\;s Fascists with Hitler&rsquo\;s Nazis and alte ring the laws that govern Rome. As anti-Semitism takes legal root and Worl d War II erupts\, the threesome realizes that Mussolini was only the begin ning.
\n\nIn 1943\, after Italy aligns itself with the Allies\, the Nazis invade Rome\, and with their occupation come new atrocities against the city&rsquo\;s Jews\, culminating in a final\, horrific betrayal.
\n \nAgainst this backdrop\, the intertwined fates of Elisabetta\, Marco\, Sandro\, and their families will be decided\, in a heartbreaking story of both the best and the worst that the world has to offer.
\n| REGISTER FOR THE FICTION KEYNOTE | \n
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
\nLisa Scottoline \;is the bestselling author of 32 novels that have been publish
ed in 35 countries. She is best known for her mystery thrillers\, but
\;Eternal&mdash\;her first historical novel&mdash\;is the culmina
tion of a lifetime of interest in the Italian Holocaust that began when sh
e took a seminar at the University of Pennsylvania led by Philip Roth call
ed &ldquo\;The Literature of the Holocaust\,&rdquo\; studying the work of
Italian Holocaust survivor Primo Levi\, among others.
Following that course Scottoline knew that one day she&rsquo\;d write about Fascism and the Holocaust in Italy\, a story that remains untold in popular fictio n. Her background as an Italian American\, lawyer\, and adjunct law profes sor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School fueled her interest in th e subject\, and after decades of research\, including many trips to Italy\ , \;Eternal \;was born.
\n\nMartha Hall Kel ly \;will be in conversation with Scottoline during the event . Kelly is the author of three bestselling works of historical fiction: he r debut novel set during World War II\, \;Lilac Girls\, and t he prequels \;Lost Roses \;and \;Sunflower Sister s.
\n\nNever an enthusiastic history student\, Kelly developed a passion for it when she discovered the long-buried story of Caroline Fer riday\, a New York socialite and philanthropist who championed the cause o f a group of Polish women nicknamed &ldquo\;the rabbits&rdquo\; who were e xperimented upon by Nazi doctors at the all-female Ravensbruck concentrati on camp. Her interest in Ferriday led to the writing of \;Lilac Gi rls.
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< strong>Thursday\, June 3: 5:00 p.m. Eastern
\nPlease join us for th e 2021 History Book Festival&rsquo\;s live\, online Nonfiction Keynote eve nt with \;Julia Sweig\, bestselling author of \;< em>Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight\, \;on \;Thursday\, June 3\, at 5 p.m. Eastern. Sweig will be in conversation with journalist and author \;Susan Page.
\n\nAgain\ , in gratitude for the support our virtual festival received in 2020\, we are delighted to also offer this keynote event free of charge. However\,&n bsp\;registration is required.
\n\nABOUT THE BOOK
\nLady Bird
Johnson&rsquo\;s complex role&mdash\;as a political partner to her husband
\, President Lyndon Johnson\, as a vital yet underappreciated presence in
the White House\, and as a critical advisor and strategist&mdash\;is recas
t in this new biography. The story is told in Lady Bird&rsquo\;s own words
through the largely unknown and overlooked audio diaries that she kept du
ring her five-plus years in the White House: 123 hours of tape totaling 1\
,750\,000 words. The tapes show her to be a formidable storyteller and his
torian and a conscious creator of legacy.
Lady Bird&rsquo\;s alm ost real-time\, highly personal narration of key moments of American histo ry showcases her narrative prowess and unique perspective as she brings to life both the tragedies that defined the &rsquo\;60s&mdash\;the assassina tions of John F. Kennedy\, Robert Kennedy\, and Martin Luther King Jr.\, a s well as the Vietnam War&mdash\;and the struggles and triumphs of the civ il rights movement.
\n\nAuthor Julia Sweig&rsquo\;s exhaustive resea rch unearths several revelations\, including the part Lady Bird played in her husband&rsquo\;s decision not to run for reelection in 1968\, as well as her crucial role in environmental policy-making as evidenced through he r &ldquo\;beautification&rdquo\; project&mdash\;a euphemism that actually brought civil rights\, the environment\, and social justice together&mdash \;most crucially in American cities like Washington\, D.C.
\n| REGISTER FOR THE NONFICTION KEYNOTE | \ n
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
\nJulia Sweig \;is an award-winni
ng author of books on Cuba\, Latin America\, and American foreign policy.
Her writing has appeared in numerous media outlets\, including the \;<
em>New York Times\, the \;Atlantic\, the \;Washi
ngton Post\, the \;Financial Times\, and the \;L
os Angeles Times. She served as senior fellow at the Council on Forei
gn Relations for 15 years and concurrently led the Aspen Institute&rsquo\;
s congressional seminar on Latin America for 10 years. Sweig is a nonresid
ent senior research fellow at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affai
rs at the University of Texas in Austin. She hosts the podcast &ldquo\;In
Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson\,&rdquo\; produced by ABC Audio and Best Ca
se Studios and available on all major podcast platforms.
Susan Page \;will be in conversation with Sweig during the e vent. Page is the Washington bureau chief of \;USA Today\, wh ere she writes about the White House and national politics. She is the aut hor of \;Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power \, a biography of Pelosi published in April 2021\, and \;The Matri arch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty\, published in 2019\, which was a \;New York Times \;bestseller. Page has covered 11 presidential elections and is now covering her seventh Whi te House administration. In 2020\, she moderated the vice-presidential deb ate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris. She frequently appears as an ana lyst on TV and radio.
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