Ron Suskind, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, will discuss his new book at the Politics and Prose Bookstore this week. Well-known for his revealing novel "The One Percent Doctrine," a story of America's battle against terrorism, Suskind's social commentaries deal with the politics of today.
His latest book, "The Way of the World," will be the centerpiece of the discussions at Politics and Prose, located at 5015 Connecticut Ave. N.W., at 7 p.m. on Monday. "A story of truth and hope in an age of extremism," according to the book's cover, Suskind's novel discusses the sudden change in America's path to fight terrorism and the world leaders and citizens who became involved.
Suskind wrote the non-fiction narrative novel based on the perspective that the United States traded in its role as a moral leader in order to fight terrorism, discussing his belief that the war is based entirely on lies. He interviews and includes subjects from all over the world, weaving their stories and emotions into one continuous storyline. Suskind even includes his conversations with Benazir Bhutto, who he spoke with shortly before her death. In this work, he attempts to show how different America's role in the world is today, and how far we have fallen from grace - both here and abroad. The book was released in early August, and has already garnered a customer rating of four-and-a-half stars out of five on Amazon.com.
Before Suskind became an author, he wrote for the Wall Street Journal, where he won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. His winning story, later published as the book "A Hope in the Unseen," follows a young man who grew up as an honor student in D.C.'s inner city and continued on to a much different life at Brown University. Today, he writes for The New York Times Magazine and Esquire magazine. Many of his articles open the eyes of the public to what he believes is the truth behind today's government and the crisis of our national security.
"The One Percent Doctrine," a book that also discusses America's relationship with terrorists, came out in 2006. His books strive to uncover what he believes is the truth behind the Bush administration and the war against terrorism, which he claims Dick Cheney planned. Suskind uses his large number of interviews with a colorful assortment of people - in both rank and culture - to lay out a number of previously undisclosed facts about America's foreign policy.
He is also a contributor to "Profiles in Courage for Our Time," profiling winners of the John F. Kennedy Foundation's award.
Politics and Prose brings in a number of political authors to hold readings and discussions on nearly a daily basis. This event is free to the public. The cost of the book is $27.95, and can be ordered online at the store's Web site or bought on location. Other upcoming authors include Jim Sciutto and Louis Bayard.
You can reach this staff writer at kboghosian@theeagleonline.com.