The bestselling author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake shines a fresh light on Winston Churchill’s heroic first year as prime minister during the Blitz. While Hitler waged a relentless bombing campaign killing 45,000 Britons, Churchill fought back by teaching the British people “the art of being fearless.” With captivating details culled from personal diaries and newly released intelligence reports, Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile captures the domestic drama of a prime minister behind-the-scenes as he moves between his country home, his wartime retreat, and 10 Downing Street in London. By focusing on Churchill at his homes and his family’s day-to-day experience, Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year and how its fierce leader persevered to bring a country and a family together. Journey back to a historic time of true leadership as Larson takes the ALOUD stage to share from this inspirational character portrait.
Erik Larson
Erik Larson is the author of eight books, five of which became New York Times bestsellers. Erik’s first book of narrative nonfiction, Isaac’s Storm, about the giant hurricane that destroyed Galveston, Texas, in 1900, won the American Meteorology Society’s prestigious Louis J. Battan Author’s Award. The Washington Post called it the “Jaws of hurricane yarns.” Erik is particularly pleased to have won the Chicago Public Library Foundation’s 2016 Carl Sandburg Literary Award for Non-Fiction. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied Russian history, language and culture; he received a masters in journalism from Columbia University. After a brief stint at the Bucks County Courier Times, Erik became a staff writer for The Wall Street Journal, and later a contributing writer for Time Magazine. His magazine stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, and other publications.
He has taught non-fiction writing at San Francisco State, the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, the University of Oregon, and the Chuckanut Writers Conference in Bellingham, Wash., and has spoken to audiences from coast to coast. A former resident of Seattle, he now lives in Manhattan with his wife.
Joel Stein
Joel Stein was not easy to work with on this bio. The only facts he provided that were verifiable were that he wrote a weekly column for Time magazine for twenty years, along with twenty-two cover stories; that he was a columnist for Entertainment Weekly and the Los Angeles Times; that he is the author of the books Man Made and In Defense of Elitism; and that he has taught at Princeton and written for several sitcoms. There is no factual basis for his claim that his writing has “saved millions of lives and destroyed many more marriages.”
Location
This program will take place at the Fine Arts Theatre at 8556 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Parking
Parking is limited, so we encourage guests to take ride share services. Click here to view parking options nearby.
Go Metro: We also highly recommend public transportation—the venue is right next to the Wilshire/La Cienaga Station. Get directions here.
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