The East Hampton Library presented their 20th Annual Authors Night fundraiser. This is one of the most popular and celebrity-studded events of the Hamptons’ summer calendar. I told about the celebrity authors and the physicians and healers, today the political authors.
John Avlon is an American journalist, political commentator, and Democratic political candidate. He is a former senior political analyst and anchor at CNN and was the editor-in-chief and managing director of The Daily Beast from 2013 to 2018.
Stuart E. Eizenstat covers every major contemporary international agreement, from the treaty to end the Vietnam War to the Kyoto Protocols and the Iranian Nuclear Accord. Written from the perspective that only a participant in top level negotiations can bring, Eizenstat recounts the events that led up to the negotiation, the drama that took place around the table, and draws lessons from successful and unsuccessful strategies and tactics. Based on interviews with over 60 key figures in American diplomacy, including former presidents and secretaries of state, and major political figures abroad, Eizenstat provides an intimate view of diplomacy as today’s history. The Art of Diplomacy will be an indispensable volume to understand American foreign policy and provide invaluable insights on the art of negotiation for anyone involved in government or business negotiations. Eizenstat served as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union and Deputy Secretary of both Treasury and State. He is also the author of President Carter: The White House Years (2018), The Future of the Jews: How Global Forces are Impacting the Jewish People, Israel, and Its Relationship with the United States (2012), and Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II (2003). He is an international lawyer in Washington, DC.
Dr. Genevieve Guenther wrote
Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Christopher Liddell offers a strategic approach to building a strong and successful presidency. An astute and experienced operative, he demonstrates persuasively that action must be taken early, comprehensively, and visibly, starting in what he calls Year Zero, the year before governing. His book lays out concrete nonpartisan steps and recommendations that would significantly improve how the White House functions and thus rebuild trust in one of our most fundamental institutions.
Kati Marton’s book The Chancellor is at once a riveting political biography and an intimate human story of a complete outsider–a research chemist and pastor’s daughter raised in Soviet-controlled East Germany–who rose to become the unofficial leader of the West. Marton is a Hungarian-American author and journalist. Her career has included reporting for ABC News as a foreign correspondent and National Public Radio, where she started as a production assistant in 1971, as well as print journalism and writing a number of books. She is a former chairwoman of the International Women’s Health Coalition, and a director (former chairwoman) of the Committee to Protect Journalistsand other bodies including the International Rescue Committee, Human Rights Watch, and the New America Foundation.
New York Times best-selling author Julian E. Zelizer has been among the pioneers in the revival of American political history. A CNN Political Analyst, a regular guest on NPR’s “Here and Now,” a guest host on POTUS Sirius XM, and a columnist for Foreign Policy. He is the award-winning author and editor of 26 books including, The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society, the winner of the D.B. Hardeman Prize for the Best Book on Congress and Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974, co-authored and Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, The Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party. The New York Times named the book as an Editor’s Choice and one of the 100 Notable Books in 2020. His most recent books are Abraham Joshua Heschel: A Life of Radical Amazement and The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: A First Historical Assessment (Editor), Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Lies and Legends About Our Past (co-edited with Kevin Kruse), and Our Nation At Risk: Election Security as a National Security Issue (co-edited with Karen Greenberg). He is currently working on a new book about the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the 1964 Democratic Convention entitled ‘Is this America?’: Reckoning With Racism at the 1964 Atlantic City Democratic Convention. In January 2025, Columbia Global Reports will publish his book, In Defense of Partisanship. Zelizer, has published over 1200 op-eds, has received fellowships from the Brookings Institution, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, the New York Historical Society, and New America.
Melissa DeRosa is an American former government official. She served as Secretary to the former Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, from 2017 until 2021. In 2023, she released a memoir titled What’s Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis. DeRosa later became strategic adviser. In 2009, DeRosa was the New York state director of Barack Obama’s PAC, Organizing for America, and as the director of communications and legislation for the Albany-based lobbying firm Cordo and Company. In 2015 DeRosa was appointed Chief of Staff. In 2020, DeRosa was appointed to serve on the transition committee to then President-Elect Joe Biden, serving as senior advisor to Steve Ricchetti, the White House’s incoming counselor and helping to assist the incoming administration’s COVID response.
Wilbur Ross Jr. is an American businessman who served as the 39th United States secretary of commerce from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Ross was previously chairman and chief executive officer of WL Ross & Co from 2000 to 2017. Risks and Returns: Creating Success in Business and Life explains how Ross got to the top and stayed there. Rising from humble beginnings in North Bergen, New Jersey, Ross applied simple principles with strict discipline—something readers can apply in their own quest for success. Ultimately, Ross’s strategies and dealmaking skills led to relationships with King Charles, Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, the Rothschild family, Steve Wynn, Lakshmi Mittal, Mike Milken, and many other famous personalities. Ross also documents his experiences with President Trump in the Oval Office.
Brian Stelter is an American journalist best known as the former chief media correspondent for CNN and host of the CNN program Reliable Sources, roles he held from 2013 to 2022. Stelter is also a former media reporter for The New York Times and editor of TVNewser. Network of Lies, answers questions by weaving together private texts, unpublished emails, depositions, and other primary sources to tell the chilling story of Trump’s alleged conspiracy to steal the 2020 election, and the right-wing media’s mission to put him back in office in 2024.
David Friend joined Vanity Fair as editor of creative development in 1998, after serving as Life magazine’s director of photography. Friend is the author of Watching the World Change: The Stories Behind the Images of 9/11 (2006); The Naughty Nineties (2017), about the culture wars of the 1990s; and two books on the essence of human existence—The Meaning of Life and More Reflections on the Meaning of Life. Friend is also an Emmy- and Peabody-award-winning producer. He executive-produced the documentaries Lakota Nation vs. United States, released theatrically in 2023; MLK/FBI,which was short-listed for the 2021 Oscar; and the CBS prime-time special 9/11, which aired in 140 countries. Friend has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Lebanon, and throughout the Middle East.
