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The Luncheon Society
 Michael Dukakis joined us in Los Angeles and San Francisco for a conversation about why Democrats stumbled in the 2014 midterms after doing so well in both 2008 and 2012 Presidential elections. The Boston Luncheon Society with Dukakis luncheon will take place in April. With Dukakis, winning elections comes down to the basics of grassroots organizing. Dukakis was frustrated about how Democrats would show up at the polls for presidential elections but fail to find the polls during mid terms races. In 2010, Democratic vote fell by 31% from the 2008 race and Republicans took over the House. President Obama will spend the next two years with a Republican House and Senate.  A young girl's disappearance rocks a community and a family, in this stirring examination of grief, faith, justice, and the atrocities of war in Carthage, the latest from literary legend Joyce Carol Oates in San Francisco. Zeno Mayfield's daughter has disappeared into the night, gone missing in the wilds of the Adirondacks. But when the community of Carthage joins a father's frantic search for the girl, they discover instead the unlikeliest of suspects-a decorated Iraq War veteran with close ties to the Mayfield family. As grisly evidence mounts against the troubled war hero, the family must wrestle with the possibility of having lost a daughter forever. Carthage plunges us deep into the psyche of a wounded young Corporal, haunted by unspeakable acts of wartime aggression, while unraveling the story of a disaffected young girl whose exile from her family may have come long before her disappearance. Dark and riveting, Carthage is a powerful addition to the Joyce Carol Oates canon, one that explores the human capacity for violence, love, and forgiveness, and asks if it's ever truly possible to come home again.  David Morris, both a former marine and reporter embedded with soldiers, walked us through his own personal experience as a PTSD sufferer for a Manhattan and Seattle luncheon. This will follow today's vets long into their lives. Post-traumatic stress disorder afflicts as many as 30 percent of those who have experienced twenty-first-century combat-but it is not confined to soldiers. Countless ordinary Americans also suffer from PTSD, following incidences of abuse, crime, natural disasters, accidents, or other trauma-yet in many cases their symptoms are still shrouded in mystery, secrecy, and shame. This "compulsively readable" study takes an in-depth look at the subject (Los Angeles Times). Written by a war correspondent and former Marine with firsthand experience of this disorder, and drawing on interviews with individuals living with PTSD, it forays into the scientific, literary, and cultural history of the illness. Using a rich blend of reporting and memoir, The Evil Hours is a moving work that will speak not only to those with the condition and to their loved ones, but also to all of us struggling to make sense of an anxious and uncertain time.  The Los Angeles Academy Award Luncheon Society gathering with Peter Rainer (President, National Society of Film Critics). The Luncheon Society has chosen one of the most respected film critics for a wide ranging luncheon about the nominees and who (or what film) might win. Will Julianne Moore win for "Still Alice?" From American Beauty (overrated) to The Night of the Hunter (masterpiece), this collection of Peter Rainer's film criticism spans the course of his illustrious thirty-year career, which dates back to the early 1980s. It is drawn from a wide range of publications, including the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Los Angeles magazine, the Los Angeles Times, New Times, and New York magazine, and is arranged thematically with chapters such as "Overrated, Underseen," "Some Masterpieces," "Documentaries," "Issues (Mostly Hot Button)," "Comedies (Intentional and Unintentional)," and "Literary and Theatrical Adaptations." Rainer covers films both well-known and obscure and writes in depth about many film auteurs-Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, the Coen brothers, Mike Leigh-and New Generation icons, such as Sofia Coppola and Paul Thomas Anderson. The careers of actors ranging from Marlon Brando to Jessica Lange to Robert De Niro are also given an extensive examination. No film buff's collection is complete without this comprehensive compilation that showcases the best work from a master contemporary film critic.  Norman Lear's work is legendary and the Los Angeles gathering was packed to the gills. The renowned creator of such iconic television programs as All in the Family; Maude; Good Times; The Jeffersons; and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Lear remade our television culture from the ground up. At their peak, his programs were viewed by 120 million people a week, with stories that dealt with the most serious issues of the day-racism, poverty, abortion-yet still left audiences howling with laughter. "In Even This I Get to Experience," Lear opens up with all the candor, humor, and wisdom to be expected from one of America's greatest living storytellers. But TV and politics are only a fraction of the tale. Lear's early years were grounded in the harshness of the Great Depression and further complicated by his parents' vivid personalities. The imprisonment of Lear's father, a believer in the get-rich-quick scheme, colored his son's childhood. During this absence, Lear's mother left her son to live with relatives. Lear's comic gifts were put to good use during this hard time, as they would be decades later during World War II, when Lear produced and staged a variety show for his fellow airmen in addition to flying fifty bombing missions.  For a great gathering in San Francisco, Dr. Michael S. Gazzaniga, one of the most important neuroscientists of the twentieth century, gave us an exciting behind-the-scenes look at his seminal work on that unlikely couple, the right and left brain. In the mid-twentieth century, Michael S. Gazzaniga, "the father of cognitive neuroscience," was part of a team of pioneering neuroscientists who developed the now foundational split-brain brain theory: the notion that the right and left hemispheres of the brain can act independently from one another and have different strengths. "In Tales from Both Sides of the Brain," Gazzaniga tells the impassioned story of his life in science and his decades-long journey to understand how the separate spheres of our brains communicate and miscommunicate with their separate agendas. By turns humorous and moving, Tales from Both Sides of the Brain interweaves Gazzaniga's scientific achievements with his reflections on the challenges and thrills of working as a scientist. In his engaging and accessible style, he paints a vivid portrait not only of his discovery of split-brain theory, but also of his comrades in arms-the many patients, friends, and family who have accompanied him on this wild ride of intellectual discovery. Interesting side note: Gazzaniga was a frat members at Dartmouth that served as the basis of "Animal House" and his nickname was "Giraffe."
 More than two decades ago, John Galliano and Alexander McQueen arrivedon the fashions scene when the business was in an artistic and economic rut. Both wanted to revolutionize fashion in a way no one had in decades. They shook the establishment out of its bourgeois, minimalist stupor with daring, sexy designs. They turned out landmark collections in mesmerizing, theatrical shows that retailers and critics still gush about and designers continue to reference. Galliano's and McQueen's work for Dior and Givenchy and beyond not only influenced fashion; their distinct styles were also reflected across the media landscape. With their help, luxury fashion evolved from a clutch of small, family-owned businesses into a $280 billion-a-year global corporate industry. Executives pushed the designers to meet increasingly rapid deadlines. For both Galliano and McQueen, the pace was unsustainable. In 2010, McQueen took his own life three weeks before his women's wear show. In her groundbreaking work Gods and Kings, acclaimed journalist Dana Thomas joined us in Manhattan, Los Angeles, and San Francisco to tell the true story of McQueen and Galliano. In so doing, she reveals the revolution in high fashion in the last two decades-and the price it demanded of the very ones who saved it.  For almost three decades, the Grateful Dead was America's most popular touring band. "No Simple Highway" is the first book to ask the simple question of why and attempt to answer it. Drawing on new research, interviews, and a fresh supply of material from the Grateful Dead archives, author Peter Richardson vividly recounts the Dead's colorful history, adding new insight into everything from the Acid Tests to the band's formation of their own record label to their massive late career success, while probing the riddle of the Dead's vast and durable appeal. Arguing that the band successfully tapped three powerful utopian ideals, for ecstasy, mobility, and community, it also shows how the Dead's lived experience with these ideals struck deep chords with two generations of American youth and continues today. Routinely caricatured by the mainstream media, the Grateful Dead are often portrayed as grizzled hippy throwbacks with a cult following of burned-out stoners. "No Simple Highway" corrects that impression, revealing them to be one of the most popular, versatile, and resilient music ensembles in the second half of the twentieth century.
 Confused about what the heck is going on out there with money in politics? Look no further! Your speed guide to the issue of money in politics is here! For more questions, check out our FAQ. How money became free speech The ruling that money is free speech comes from Buckley v. Valeo, a 1976 Supreme Court decision. Ben Cohen, half of the founding partner of Ben and Jerry's feels different. Although the court upheld limits on direct contributions to prevent corruption or the appearance of corruption, they conceded that spending money to influence elections is protected speech under the First Amendment. There was a time when Network News Anchors ruled as Gods among the airwaves.  During the 1950's and 1960's, giants like Huntley and Brinkley at NBC, Howard K. Smith at ABC and Walter Cronkite at CBS distilled the often murky events of a chaotic world into a crisp 30 minute newscast. Nobody could come close to the gravitas of the Big Three. The New Yorker's Ken Auletta walks us through the changes. A decade ago, the guard changed again but under different circumstances. Ken Auletta, author of Greed and Glory on Wall Street, tells the gripping story of the decline of the networks in this epically scaled work of journalism. He chronicles the takeovers and executive coups that turned ABC and NBC into assets of two mega-corporations and CBS into the fiefdom of one man, Larry Tisch, whose obsession with the bottom line could be both bracing and appalling. Auletta takes us inside the CBS newsroom on the night that Dan Rather went off-camera for six deadly minutes; into the screening rooms where NBC programming wunderkind Brandon Tartikoff watched two of his brightest prospects for new series thud disastrously to earth; and into the boardrooms where the three networks were trying to decide whether television is a public trust or a cash cow. Rich in anecdote and gossip, scalpel-sharp in its perceptions, Three Blind Mice chronicles a revolution in American business and popular culture, one that is changing the world on both sides of the television screen
 Growing up in Bayonne, New Jersey, Barney Frank made two vital discoveries about himself: he was attracted to government, and to men as he joined us in Manhattan, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. He resolved to make a career out of the first and to keep the second a secret. Now, his sexual orientation is widely accepted, while his belief in government is embattled. "Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage" is his account of America's transformation and the tale of a truly momentous career. From the battle over AIDS funding in the 1980s to the 2008 financial crisis, Barney Frank played a key role, and in this feisty and often moving memoir, he candidly discusses the satisfactions, fears, and grudges that come with elected office. He recalls the emotional toll of living in the closet while publicly crusading against homophobia. He discusses painful quarrels with allies; friendships with public figures, from Tip O'Neill to Sonny Bono; and how he found love with his husband, Jim Ready, becoming the first sitting member of Congress to enter a same-sex marriage. The result is the story of an extraordinary political life, an original argument for rebuilding trust in government, and a guide to how change really happens...composed by a master of the art.  In her younger years, Jillian Lauren was a college dropout, a drug addict, and an international concubine in the Prince of Brunei's harem, an experience she immortalized in in her bestselling memoir, Some Girls. In her thirties, Jillian's most radical act was learning the steadying power of love when she and her rock star husband adopt an Ethiopian child with special needs. After Jillian loses a close friend to drugs, she herself is saved by her fierce, bold love for her son as she fights to make him-and herself-feel safe and at home in the world. Exploring complex ideas of identity and reinvention, Everything You Ever Wanted is a must-read for everyone, especially every mother, who has ever hoped for a second act in life.  An advisor to Presidents, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and tireless champion of progressive government, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., was also an inveterate letter writer. Building on the success of his Journals, Stephen Schlesinger edited his father's letters. Indeed, the term "man of letters" could easily have been coined for Schlesinger, a faithful and prolific correspondent whose wide range of associates included powerful public officials, notable literary figures, prominent journalists, Hollywood celebrities, and distinguished fellow scholars. Schlesinger, who died in 2007 at the age of 89, lived his long, rich and public life in defiance of that choice and rejecting, with vigor and with due reference to Thucydides, Tocqueville and Gibbon, the notion that one who chronicles history cannot also affect it. While still a student at Harvard, in the 1930s, Schlesinger had already concluded that "the only knowledge worth anything is grounded in experience." Time would temper that view, but only slightly. He insisted to the end that a historian need not be "a monastic scholar, austerely removed from the passing emotions and conflicts of his own day." That put him at odds with many in his profession. But Schlesinger would not forsake either calling for the other. Reconciling the two was his consuming challenge.  Renowned social psychologist and creator of the Stanford Prison Experiment Dr. Philip Zimbardo explores the mechanisms that make good people do bad things, how moral people can be seduced into acting immorally, and what this says about the line separating good from evil. The Lucifer Effect explains how we are all susceptible to the lure of "the dark side." Drawing on examples from history as well as his own trailblazing research, Zimbardo details how situational forces and group dynamics can work in concert to make monsters out of decent men and women. Here, for the first time and in detail, Zimbardo tells the full story of the Stanford Prison Experiment, the landmark study in which a group of college-student volunteers was randomly divided into "guards" and "inmates" and then placed in a mock prison environment. Within a week the study was abandoned, as ordinary college students were transformed into either brutal, sadistic guards or emotionally broken prisoners. Zimbardo enables us to better understand a variety of harrowing phenomena, from corporate malfeasance to organized genocide to how once upstanding American soldiers came to abuse and torture Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib. He replaces the long-held notion of the "bad apple" with that of the "bad barrel."  Four decades earlier, Erica Jong revolutionized the way we look at love, marriage and sex. She joined us in San Francisco. Her world-wide bestseller, Fear of Flying opened the doors for writers from Jennifer Weiner to Lena Dunham. Now she does it again by giving us powerful, new perspective on the next phase of women's lives. Full of the sly humor, deep wisdom and poignancy we know from her poetry, fiction and essays, she delivers the novel women everywhere have been waiting for...Fear of Dying. Nevertheless, there is a significant and informed segment of humanity that realizes we passed the point of no return on climate change long ago. That segment represents a leadership that is urgently needed today.  Chicago 7 alumnus Rennie Davis explores the emerging vision to create a new nation on Earth that can showcase what sustainability really looks like. Resilient adapting in the midst of epic change, the nation's goal is a new humanity for the 3rd millennium. The New Humanity A Movement to Change the World is a trilogy for a new generation that wants to change the outcome of a world enveloped by fear and divide. The first book is called "Our Roots"; the second "Humanity at the Crossroads; and the third "The Rise of Ilian." The first book returns to "the greatest Sixties stories ever" to share with Millennials how we did it then and how we can do it again. The first book also explains the complete mission of the trilogy-to support a global movement that can change the world. It takes the reader into some of the most dynamic events of the Sixties where the reader can see a movement in action through the eyes of the author. He was one of the Chicago 7 and the coordinator of the largest anti-war and civil rights coalition of that era. He also organized the largest civil disobedience arrest in American history and partnered with John Lennon to end the Vietnam war.
 Elizabeth Benedict, bestselling novelist and editor of the celebrated newcollection, Me, My Hair and I, and contributor Anne Kreamer, author of Going Gray, and the recently-published exploration of the new workscape, Risk/Reward, as they untangle the mysteries of why hair matters so much and invite you to share your stories. Me, My Hair and I: An Intimate Conversation on Going Gray (or not!), Frizzy Hair, Good Hair, Bad Hair, Covered Hair, No Hair - and Why We're So Obsessed with Our Hair. Ask a woman about her hair, and she just might tell you the story of her life. Ask a whole bunch of women about their hair, and you could get a history of the world. Surprising, insightful, frequently funny, and always forthright, the essays in Me, My Hair, and I are reflections and revelations about every aspect of women's lives from family, race, religion, and motherhood to culture, health, politics, and sexuality. They take place in African American kitchens, at Hindu Bengali weddings, and inside Hasidic Jewish homes. The conversation is intimate and global at once. Layered into these reminiscences are tributes to influences throughout history: Jackie Kennedy, Lena Horne, Farrah Fawcett, the Grateful Dead, and Botticelli's Venus. Anne Kreamer considered herself a youthful 49 until a photo of herself with her teenage daughter stopped her in her tracks. In one unguarded moment she saw herself for what she really was -- a middle-aged woman with her hair dyed much too harshly. In that one moment Kreamer realized that she wasn't fooling anyone about her age and decided it was time to get real and embrace a more authentic life. She set out for herself a program to let her hair become its true color, and along the way discovered her true self. Going Gray is Kreamer's exploration of that experience, and a frank, warm and funny investigation of aging as a female obsession. Through interviews, field experiments, and her own everywoman's chronicle, Kreamer probes the issues behind two of the biggest fears aging women face: Can I be sexually attractive as a gray-haired, middle-aged woman? Will I be discriminated against in the work world? Her answers will surprise you.
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The Luncheon Society™
 is a series of private luncheons and dinners that take place in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Manhattan, and Boston. During the Pandemic, we are on Zoom. Discussions center on politics, art, science, film, culture, and whatever else is on our mind. Think of us as "Adult Drop in Daycare." We've been around since 1996 and we're purposely understated; 2021 will be our 26th season. In these gatherings, you interact with the main guest and conversation becomes the end result. There are no rules, very little structure, and the gatherings happen when they happen. Join us when you can.
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