Today I was live on Connecticut Public Radio’s Colin McEnroe Show to talk ancestors and Ancestor Trouble. The hour begins as Jenny Strauss contemplates the legacy of her great-grandfather Lewis Strauss, currently depicted in “Oppenheimer” by Robert Downey, Jr. She refers to him as the film’s antihero, which was my takeaway of the director’s intentions after seeing it last night. . . .
When an ancestor who was persecuted also persecuted others–in even more devastating ways.
Washington Post reporter Sophia Nguyen predicts Obama’s summer 2023 books will include Ancestor Trouble by Maud Newton
My summer editorial offerings focus on my greatest strength and interest: working with fellow writers who are reckoning with their own troubled family histories.
I reviewed Rachel Jamison Webster’s first book, Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family, for the Washington Post Book World. I appreciated the author’s intentional, thoughtful, and inclusive approach, and also had some hesitations and came away with some questions.