This week - Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague talk to Joy Powers of Lake Effect about The Steal

 Here's what's happening virtually with Boswell this week.

Thursday, January 13, 7 pm
Mark Bowden and Matthew Teague, authors of The Steal: The Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election and the People Who Stopped It
in conversation with Joy Powers
Tickets for this virtual event here.

Journalists Mark Bowden (author of the classic of war reporting, Black Hawk Down) and Matthew Teague join us for a virtual conversation about their new book. In this new political title, Bowden and Teague offer a week-by-week, state-by-state chronicle of the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the stories of administrators across the country who stepped in to prevent it. They'll be in conversation with WUWM Lake Effect Host and Producer Joy Powers, and will discuss in particular the section of their book focused on what happened during the election in Wisconsin.

From Luke Broadwater in The New York Times: "As I was reading The Steal, I was reminded of the line in the HBO show Succession said by Logan Roy, the domineering patriarch of a conservative media empire, as he tries to corrupt an F.B.I. investigation: 'The law is people, and people is politics, and I can handle people.'"

From Jacob S Hacker in The Washington Post: "Regarding one big point, however, these accounts agree: 2020 was a lucky break. The guardrails held, but only barely. Without fundamental reforms, they may not hold longer. And the very forces that weakened those guardrails make repairing them extremely hard. Whether the outcome is civil war or - far more likely, in my view - a democracy that’s increasingly undemocratic, Jan. 6 may come to be seen as a critical test of foresight and fortitude that too many in power failed."

From Charles Kaiser in The Guardian: "That real insurrection is the subject of this timely and important volume. The authors have used a stethoscope to examine the minutia of the American election process. The result is a thrilling and suspenseful celebration of the survival of democracy."

From David Gura on NPR: "I went into it thinking that there would be stark differences between, you know, a red side and a blue side and one versus the other. And that really wasn't the case. Many of the heroes of the book, the people who stood up and said, no; we're going to tell the truth - were conservative people and even Trump supporters themselves. So it's clear that the line between truth and lie is something that runs through every human heart, that it's not just a matter of partisan politics. And that gives me hope for the country."  

Mark Bowden is the author of fifteen books, including Black Hawk Down. He reported at the Philadelphia Inquirer for twenty years and now writes for The Atlantic and other magazines. Matthew Teague is a contributor to National Geographic, The Atlantic, Esquire, and other magazines, and was Executive Producer of the feature film Our Friend. Wisconsinite Joy Powers was formerly Director and Producer of Afternoon Shift on WBEZ Chicago Public Radio and is now a host/producer for Lake Effect.

Boswell is offering The Steal at 20% off and is offering $5 media mail shipping within the continental United States. Want the book faster? In-store or sidewalk pickup, USPS priority mail, and UPS are also available.

photo credits

Mark Bowden by Pascal Perich

Matthew Teague by Akasha Rabut

Next week - two events! More on the upcoming events page.