The Bookplate is proud to announce the next chapter in the continuation of their partnership with The Retriever Bar and their “Authors & Oysters” series. The back room of the popular bookshop on Cross Street has been expanded to include a larger selection of titles, making it necessary to look elsewhere for an event space. The Retriever provides an ideal atmosphere for an event series; patrons are able to enjoy the pub’s offerings while listening to the guest speaker in a relaxed atmosphere. Jack Russell was featured in the most recent Authors and Oysters event on March 23rd with his book, Fox World: 500 Miles of Walks and Talks with an Old Fox.
On Saturday, May 7th at 2pm, all are invited to The Retriever to meet father and son Peter and Evan Osnos. Peter will be discussing his book, An Especially Good View; Watching History Happen. In more than five decades as a reporter, editor and publisher, Peter has had an especially good view of momentous events and relationships with some of the most influential personalities of our time. As a young journalist for I.F. Stone’s Weekly, one of the leading publications of the turbulent 1960s and in 18 years at The Washington Post, he covered the war in Vietnam and Cambodia, the Soviet Union at the height of Kremlin power, Washington D.C. as National Editor, “Swinging London” in the 60s and Thatcher’s Britain in the 1980s. Peter’s other works include George Soros; A Life In Full.
Evan Osnos will be discussing his most recent book; Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury. A dramatic, prescient examination of seismic changes in American politics and culture, Wildland is the story of a crucible, a period bounded by two shocks to America’s psyche, two assaults on the country’s sense of itself: the attacks of September 11 in 2001 and the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Following the lives of everyday Americans in three cities and across two decades, Osnos illuminates the country in a startling light, revealing how we lost the moral confidence to see ourselves as larger than the sum of our parts. Evan’s other works include Joe Biden; The Life, The Run and What Matters Now, and Age of Ambition; Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China, the latter of which was the winner of the National Book Award in 2014.
Their books have been met with positive reviews. Kirkus Reviews writes; “It’s clear the book was a labor of love… Much of the memoir’s charm comes from Osnos’ candor and energy, and he concludes with a deeply personal retrospective of thought, grateful reflection, and pictorial extras that both seasoned and aspiring journalists will appreciate. The meticulously detailed, inspiring journey of an American news reporter and publisher.”
Former President Jimmy Carter dedicated his book, Always a Reckoning; “To Peter Osnos: Our publisher, editor, referee, and friend.” Former Federal Reserve Chair, Paul Volcker wrote in his own memoir; “To Peter Osnos: It’s all your fault.”
Of Wildland, chief Washington correspondent for The New Yorker Jane Mayer writes; “Evan Osnos’s Wildland is a reportorial tour de force describing the kaleidoscopic changes that threaten to cause America to come apart at the seams. He deftly connects the dots between the hedge-fund billionaires of Greenwich, Connecticut; the opioid-soaked towns of Appalachia; and the gun-heavy gangs of Chicago. By turning his trained eye as a former foreign correspondent on his own country, Osnos paints an indelible picture that is heart-rending, appalling, and hard to put down.”
For more event details contact The Bookplate at 410-778-4167 or [email protected]. This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required. Save the date for the next Authors & Oysters event with Kate Albus on May 11th. The Retriever is located at 337 ½ High Street, in Chestertown, Maryland.
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