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The Luncheon Society
We started off-as always-with a Los Angeles gathering with Michael Dukakis, who offered his thoughts on how Democratic officeholders can expand on their 2008 victories with the right grassroots organization. The former Massachusetts Governor and Democratic Presidential nominee joined us in San Francisco at the end of February. He says that we have to build on the 2008 successes. "We have to organize every damn precinct in the United States of America-all 185,000," Mr. Dukakis said. "I'm serious. I'm deadly serious. I didn't do it after the primary [in 1988]. Don't ask me why, because that's the way I got myself elected from the time I was running for town meeting in Brookline to the time I ran for governor."
 On the 5th anniversary of the landing of the Rovers on Mars, Chief Mission Scientist Steven Squyres detailed the transformative science that allows us to see Mars in a whole new light. Squyres has participated in many of NASA's planetary exploration missions. From 1978 to 1981 he was an associate of the Voyager mission to Jupiter and Saturn, participating in analysis of imaging data. He subsequently worked as a radar investigator on the Magellan mission to Venus, and with the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission. Along with his work as principal investigator on the MER (Mars Exploration Rovers), he is also a co-investigator on the 2003 Mars Express and 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions, a member of the Gamma-Ray Spectrometer Flight Investigation Team for the Mars Odyssey mission, and a member of the imaging team for the Cassini to Saturn. Squyres served as Chair of the NASA Space Science Advisory Committee and as a member of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC). In November 2011, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden named Squyres chairman of the NAC, succeeding Kenneth Ford, the founder and director of the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. ABC News featured Squyres as its Person of the Week for January 9, 2004, and World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings said he "has gotten us all excited." Squyres was also given the 2005 Wired Rave Award for science by Wired for overseeing the creation of Spirit and Opportunity that had, outlasted all expecttations. Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, joined us that evening in Beverly Hills.
 Bestselling author and the Chief Astronomer for The Hubble Telescope Mario Livio examines the lives and theories of history's greatest mathematicians to ask how-if mathematics is an abstract construction of the human mind-it can so perfectly explain the physical world. Nobel Laureate Eugene Wigner once wondered about "the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics" in the formulation of the laws of nature. "Is God a Mathematician?" investigates why mathematics is as powerful as it is. From ancient times to the present, scientists and philosophers have marveled at how such a seemingly abstract discipline could so perfectly explain the natural world. More than that-mathematics has often made predictions, for example, about subatomic particles or cosmic phenomena that were unknown at the time, but later were proven to be true. Is mathematics ultimately invented or discovered? Physicist and author Mario Livio brilliantly explores mathematical ideas from Pythagoras to the present day as he shows us how intriguing questions and ingenious answers have led to ever deeper insights into our world. This fascinating book will interest anyone curious about the human mind, the scientific world, and the relationship between them.
 Anthropologist and TED Speaker Dr. Helen Fisher joined us for three gatherings, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York for her new book titled, "Why Him? Why Her? The Science of Seduction," where she discussed her most recent research on brain chemistry and romantic love. Why do you fall in love with one person rather than another? In this fascinating and informative book, Helen Fisher, one of the world's leading experts on romantic love, unlocks the hidden code of desire and attachment. Each of us, it turns out, primarily expresses one of four broad personality types: Explorer, Builder, Director, or Negotiator - and each of these types is governed by different chemical systems in the brain. Driven by this biology, we are attracted to partners who both mirror and complement our own personality type. Until now the search for love has been blind, but Fisher pulls back the curtain and reveals how we unconsciously go about finding the right match. Drawing on her unique study of 40,000 men and women, she explores each personality type in detail and shows you how to identify your own type. Then she explains why some types match up well, whereas others are problematic. (Note to Explorers: be prepared for a wild ride when you hitch your star to a fellow Explorer!) Ultimately, Fisher's investigation into the complex nature of romance and attachment leads to astonishing new insights into the essence of dating, love, and marriage. Based on entirely new research - including a detailed questionnaire completed by five million people in 33 countries - Why Him? Why Her? will change your understanding of why you love him (or her) and help you use nature's chemistry to find and keep your life partner.
 Our old friend and Vanity Fair writer Cari Beauchamp published her biography on Joe Kennedy's Hollywood years, offering a glimpse into how his years in the motion picture industry helped to position his family for greater things financially and politically. Joseph P. Kennedy's reputation as a savvy businessman, diplomat, and sly political patriarch is well-documented. But his years as a Hollywood mogul have never been fully explored until now. In Joseph P. Kennedy Presents, Cari Beauchamp brilliantly explores this unknown chapter in Kennedy's biography. Between 1926 and 1930, Kennedy positioned himself as a major Hollywood player. In two short years, he was running three studios simultaneously and then, in a bold move, he merged his studios with David Sarnoff to form the legendary RKO Studio. Beauchamp also tells the story of Kennedy's affair with Gloria Swanson; how he masterminded the mergers that created the blueprint for contemporary Hollywood; and made the fortune that became the foundation of his empire.
 New York City mainstay Jimmy Breslin held court at the Blue Fin Restaurant, in the heart of Times Square to talk about the state of Gotham and his book, "The Good Rat" about one of the mob's biggest canaries, Burton Kaplan, as he sang to a grand jury. It was a conversation that went late into the night. In his inimitable New York voice, Pulitzer Prize winner Jimmy Breslin gives us a look through the keyhole at the people and places that define the Mafia characters like John Gotti, Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso (named for his weapon of choice), and Jimmy "the Clam" Eppolito interwoven with the remarkable true-crime saga of the good rat himself, Burt Kaplan of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, the star witness in the recent trial of two NYPD detectives indicted for carrying out eight gangland executions. Through these unforgettable real-life and long-forgotten Mafia stories, Jimmy Breslin captures the moments in which the mob was made and broken  Barton Gellman earned the Pulitzer Prize for his multi-part series on Dick Cheney in the Washington Post, which was later expanded into a book titled "Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency," to stellar reviews. That is one luncheon that I want to repeat because it was so good. Presenting information in a narrative fashion, Gellman asserts that United States Vice President Dick Cheney misled Republican leaders about the threat of Iraq before the invasion of Iraq by the United States. The book levels several allegations against Cheney and his administration. The book is based on hundreds of previously unpublished interviews with high-ranking government officials. Barton Gellman, a staff writer for The Washington Post, participated in a lengthy series of Pulitzer Prize-winning stories about Vice President Cheney published in November 2007. Angler is the conclusion of that investigation, and arranges the findings in a narrative fashion. Throughout the course of the interviews, Gellman spoke on record to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley, White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and his predecessor Andrew H. Card Jr., senior presidential advisers Dan Bartlett and Karl Rove, and numerous high-ranking Justice Department alumni, including John Ashcroft and James B. Comey. Cheney and President Bush declined Gellman's requests to be interviewed.  Maggie Renzi, who produces most of the film by John Sayles, talked about the challenges that often keep small films from finding the shaft of light that comes from being discovered by the general viewing public. Separately and together, Renzi and her partner John Sayles, have been prolific in their 40-plus years of filmmaking, splitting their time these days between Hoboken, New Jersey, and New York. Sayles was the genius behind several iconic mid-'80s Bruce Springsteen videos (Glory Days, I'm on Fire, Born in the U.S.A.), and has authored four novels and two collections of short stories. He also wrote and directed Eight Men Out (1988), the drama starring John Cusack that told the story of the 1919 Black Sox World Series scandal (in which Sayles played Ring Lardner). The duo went on to make the 1992 drama Passion Fish, for which Sayles earned his first Best Screenplay nomination from the Academy, as well as The Secret of Roan Inish (1994), Sunshine State (2002), Honeydripper (2007), and 2010's Amigo, among many other films.  Our friend Dr Jill Tarter, The Director for Research at the SETI Institute and TED Award winner for 2009, spoke about the possibilities of intelligent life out there with the launch of NASA's Kepler Mission, which is designed to find earth-sized extrasolar planets. Tarter's life work is chronicled in the book, Making Contact: Jill Tarter and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. She's deeply committed to the education of future citizens and scientists. Beyond her scientific leadership at NASA and the SETI Institute, Tarter has been actively involved in developing curriculum for children. She was Principal Investigator for two curriculum development projects funded by NSF, NASA, and others. One project, the Life in the Universe series, created 6 science teaching guides for grades 3-9. The other project, Voyages Through Time, is an integrated high school science curriculum on the fundamental theme of evolution in six modules: Cosmic Evolution, Planetary Evolution, Origin of Life, Evolution of Life, Hominid Evolution and Evolution of Technology. She also created the TEDEd lesson, "Calculating the Odds of Intelligent Alien Life."  Writer, journalist and founding feminist Germaine Greer pondered the fate the of women's thought as she discussed her new book on Ann Hathaway, William Shakespeare's little-known wife. Little is known about Hathaway; a great deal, none of it complimentary, has been assumed. The omission of her name from Shakespeare's will has been interpreted as evidence that she was nothing more than an unfortunate mistake from which Shakespeare did well to distance himself. While Shakespeare is above all the poet of marriage-repeatedly in his plays, constant wives redeem unjust and deluded husbands-scholars persist in positing the worst about the writer's own spouse. In Shakespeare's Wife, Germaine Greer boldly breaks new ground, combining literary-historical techniques with documentary evidence about life in Stratford, to reset the story of Shakespeare's marriage in its social context. With deep insight and intelligence, she offers daring and thoughtful new theories about the farmer's daughter who married England's greatest poet, painting a vivid portrait of a remarkable woman. A passionate and perceptive work of first-rate scholarship that reclaims this maligned figure from generations of scholarly neglect and misogyny, Shakespeare's Wife poses bold questions and opens new fields of investigation and research.  Pulitzer Prize and PEN Center award winning writer Ed Humes spoke about his new book "Eco-Barons," on how a profitable green economy will spur the necessary changes that will turn the corner on global warming. While many people remain paralyzed by the scope of Earth's environmental crisis, the eco barons a new, unheralded generation of men and women have quietly dedicated their lives and fortunes to saving the planet from eco-logical destruction. From the former fashion magnate and founder of Esprit who's saved more rainforests than anyone else to the Hollywood pool cleaner who became the leading force behind a worldwide effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the incredible stories of Eco Barons offer proof that a single person's determination and vision can effect monumental change.  From the author of the landmark bestseller Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease comes an empowering new program that teaches you how to lower high blood pressure, lose weight, lower your cholesterol, or reverse a major disease by customizing a healthy way of eating and living based on your own desires, needs, and genetic predispositions. Dr. Dean Ornish revolutionized medicine by directing clinical research proving-for the first time-that heart disease and early-stage prostate cancer may be stopped or even reversed by his program of comprehensive lifestyle changes, without drugs or surgery. His newest research was the first to show that changing your lifestyle changes your genes in men with prostate cancer-"turning on" disease-preventing genes, and "turning off" genes that promote breast cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses, and in only three months. This study documented, also for the first time, that these lifestyle changes may significantly increase an enzyme that lengthens telomeres-the ends of your chromosomes that control how long you live. As your telomeres get longer, your life gets longer. Your genes are not your fate. Featuring one hundred easy-to-prepare, delicious recipes from award-winning chef Art Smith, The Spectrum can make a powerful difference in your health and well-being.
 In Los Angeles and San Francisco NPR commentator and poet Andrei Codrescu discussed his new book, The Posthuman Dada Guide is an impractical handbook for practical living in our posthuman world, all by way of examining the imagined 1916 chess game between Tristan Tzara, the daddy of Dada, and V. I. Lenin, the daddy of communism. This epic game at Zurich's Café de la Terrasse, a battle between radical visions of art and ideological revolution, lasted for a century and may still be going on, although communism appears dead and Dada stronger than ever. As the poet faces the future mass murderer over the chessboard, neither realizes that they are playing for the world. Taking the match as metaphor for two poles of twentieth- and twenty-first-century thought, politics, and life, Andrei Codrescu has created his own brilliantly Dadaesque guide to Dada, and to what it can teach us about surviving our ultraconnected present and future. Here dadaists Duchamp, Ball, and von Freytag-Loringhoven and communists Trotsky, Radek, and Zinoviev appear live in company with later incarnations, including William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Gilles Deleuze, and Newt Gingrich. The Posthuman Dada Guide is arranged alphabetically for quick reference and (some) nostalgia for order, with entries such as "eros (women)," "internet(s)," and "war." Throughout, it is written in the belief "that posthumans lining the road to the future (which looks as if it exists, after all, even though Dada is against it) need the solace offered by the primal raw energy of Dada and its inhuman sources.  Playwright, actor and author Orson Bean talked about Christianity in Hollywood as well as his son-in-law Andrew Breitbart. The laughter was so loud from our room that people at the next private room came to quiet us down. Orson Bean starred on Broadway for twenty years, regularly hosted The Tonight Show, sat on the panel of the game show To Tell the Truth, and made appearances in movies like Being John Malkovich. He drank and snorted drugs and DID inhale. But he was never quite happy, until he sniffed around, found religion, and became a recovering alcoholic. This is his story, aimed at those folks who are interested in recovery, but suspicious.  At the request of two friends, Phillip Carter and Paul Rieckhoff, we sat down with West Point graduate and Rhodes Scholar Craig Mullaney who discussed his book The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education, which detailed one haunting afternoon on Losano Ridge in Afghanistan, where he and his platoon were caught in a deadly firefight with Al Qaeda fighters. In this surprise bestseller, Mullaney recounts his unparalleled education and the hard lessons that only war can teach. While stationed in Afghanistan, a deadly firefight with al-Qaeda leads to the loss of one of his soldiers. Years later, after that excruciating experience, he returns to the United States to teach future officers at the Naval Academy. Written with unflinching honesty, this is an unforgettable portrait of a young soldier grappling with the weight of war while coming to terms with what it means to be a man.  Long-time PBS mainstay and Best Selling dysfunctional family author John Bradshaw discussed the challenges of leading a virtuous life. Healing the Shame That Binds You is the most enduring work of family relationship expert and New York Times best-selling author John Bradshaw. In it, he shows how unhealthy toxic shame, often learned young and maintained into adulthood, is the core component in our compulsions, co-dependencies, addictions and drive to superachieve. While positive shame empowers us and sustains the fabric of our social system, inappropriate or misdirected shame results in the breakdown of our self-esteem, the destruction of the family system, and an inability to move forward with our lives. In an honest and emotionally revealing style based largely on his personal experience with addiction and his decades as a counselor, John Bradshaw moves from the source and manifestation of toxic shame to the practical tools---affirmations, visualizations, inner voice and feeling work, guided meditations, and other healing techniques---that will release the shame that binds us to our past.  Paul Rieckhoff, the Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association (IAVA) spoke about the success of the new GI Bill and the challenges of returning veterans dealing with battlefields stresses on the home front. Rieckhoff, is founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), one of the most prominent voices among groups representing younger veterans. In many ways, he has been training for many years for his current leadership role, as the son and grandson of veterans, a high school football coach and a platoon leader in Iraq. "I wanted to serve, to give something back," he said in a recent interview with The Hill. "My father had been drafted for the Vietnam War, and my grandfather drafted into World War II."  The Reverend Scotty McLennan, the Dean of Religious Life at Stanford (and with William Sloane Coffin is the basis for Doonesbury's Rev. Scot Sloan) argued Jesus was a Liberal in Los Angeles and San Francisco. For the millions of people who identify as liberal Christians. In McLennan's bold call to reclaim ownership of Christianity, he advocates a sense of religion based not on doctrinal readings of scripture but on the humanity behind Christ's teachings. He addresses such topics as intelligent design, abortion, same sex marriage, war. torture and much, much more. As he says in the Preface, "We liberal Christians know in our hearts that there is much more to life than seems to meet the rational eye of atheists; yet we find it hard to support supernatural claims about religion that fly in the face of scientific evidence."  Ayelet Waldman, whose article in the New York Times suggested that she loved her husband (writer Michael Chabon) more than her children , which created a firestorm discussed this and more in her new book, "Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace." In our mothers' day there were good mothers, indifferent mothers, and occasionally, great mothers. Today we have only Bad Mothers: If you work, you're neglectful; if you stay home, you're smothering. If you discipline, you're buying them a spot on the shrink's couch; if you let them run wild, they will be into drugs by seventh grade. Is it any wonder so many women refer to themselves at one time or another as a "bad mother." Writing with remarkable candor, and dispensing much hilarious and helpful advice along the way-Is breast best? What should you do when your daughter dresses up as a "ho" for Halloween?-Ayelet Waldman says it's time for women to get over it and get on with it in this wry, unflinchingly honest, and always insightful memoir on modern motherhood.  Producer, studio executive and Phoenix Pictures Chief Executive Mike Medavoy talked about the relationship between American cultures and how our nation is perceived overseas. Medavoy has made a mark not only within his industry, but in his community as well. He was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles by Governor Jerry Brown and was appointed by Mayor Richard Riordan as Commissioner on the Los Angeles Board of Parks and Recreations. He is a member of the board of directors of the University of Tel Aviv. He also serves on the board of trustees of the UCLA Foundation and is a member of the Chancellor's Associates, the Dean's Advisory Board at the UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television and the Alumni Association's Student Relations Committee. He is also the co-chairman of the Burkle Center for UCLA's Center for International Relations and served as a member of the board of advisers at the Kennedy School at Harvard University for five years. In 2002, Governor Gray Davis appointed Mike to the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center's Executive Advisory Board; he is also a member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the Homeland Security Advisory Council. Medavoy is also on the Baryshnikov Arts Center Advisory Committee in New York, and serves on the advisory board of the University of Southern California's Center on Public Diplomacy. Throughout his career, Mike Medavoy has also been active in politics. In 1984, he was Co-Finance Chair of the Gary Hart campaign. He also actively participated in President Clinton's campaigns in 1992 and 1996. In 2008, he supported the candidacy of Barack Obama, and his wife, Irena, was the Co-Finance Chair.  Louis Friedman, who founded The Planetary Society with Carl Sagan and Bruce Murray, talked about the future of Cosmos II, a planned unmanned solar sail spacecraft that will revolutionize how fast we can travel in outer space. As the Cold War was ending and the Soviet Union collapsed, Louis Friedman traveled to Russia more than 50 times. Between 1984 and 2005, he worked to advance international space cooperation to explore Mars and other worlds in our solar system. In this book, he recounts his personal stories from those adventures in Russia. Among them are observing a Submarine Launched Ballistic Mission on a Russian Navy ship in the Barents Sea, and testing Mars Rover prototypes on volcanic mountains in Kamchatka. He chronicles the times he travelled to the secret Soviet nuclear laboratory in Chelyabinsk-70 with Edward Teller, the inventor of the hydrogen bomb and he flew in hot air balloons on a Soviet airfield in Lithuania. These adventures were undertaken to advance the idea of the United States and Russia leading a world effort to explore Mars together. Included is a Chapter and Appendices on the politics, history and challenges of international cooperation for human exploration of Mars  Former Newsweek and current MSNBC contributor Richard Wolffe talked about Renegade, his book on the emergence of Barack Obama as a national figure and political leader. Before the White House and Air Force One, before the TV ads and the enormous rallies, there was the real Barack Obama: a man wrestling with the momentous decision to run for the presidency, feeling torn about leaving behind a young family, and figuring out how to win the biggest prize in politics. This book is the previously untold and epic story of how a political newcomer with no money and an alien name grew into the world's most powerful leader. But it is also a uniquely intimate portrait of the person behind the iconic posters and the Secret Service code name Renegade.  Former Senator and 1972 Democratic Presidential nominee George McGovern returned to The Luncheon Society after a 5 year absence to discuss his book on Abraham Lincoln spoke to the issue of healthcare reform and eulogize Senator Kennedy, three days after his death. Abraham Lincoln towers above the others who have held the office of president, the icon of greatness, the pillar of strength whose words bound up the nation's wounds. His presidency is the hinge on which American history pivots, the time when the young republic collapsed of its own contradictions and a new birth of freedom, sanctified by blood, created the United States we know today. His story has been told many times, but never by a man who himself sought the office of president and contemplated the awesome responsibilities that come with it. George McGovern, a Midwesterner, former U.S. senator, presidential candidate, veteran, and historian by training, offers his unique insight into our sixteenth president. He shows how Lincoln sometimes went astray, particularly in his restrictions on civil liberties, but also how he adjusted his sights and transformed the Civil War from a political dispute to a moral crusade. McGovern's account reminds us why we hold Lincoln in such esteem and why he remains the standard by which all of his successors are measured. Joining us at the San Francisco luncheon were Dan Ellsberg; Sidney Sheinberg and Max Palevsky joined us in Los Angeles.  Dr. Temple Grandin joined us in San Francisco and gave us a better understanding how as a high functioning autistic, her neurological condition has enhanced her study of animal behavior. Grandin's professional training as an animal scientist and her history as a person with autism have given her a perspective like that of no other expert in the field. Grandin and coauthor Catherine Johnson present their powerful theory that autistic people can often think the way animals think-putting autistic people in the perfect position to translate "animal talk." Exploring animal pain, fear, aggression, love, friendship, communication, learning, and, even animal genius, Grandin is a faithful guide into their world. Animals in Translation reveals that animals are much smarter than anyone ever imagined, and Grandin, standing at the intersection of autism and animals, offers unparalleled observations and extraordinary ideas about both.  Salon.com Managing Editor Joan Walsh wrote In What's the Matter with White People? Walsh argues that the biggest divide in America today is based not on party or ideology but on two competing explanations for why middle-class stability has been shaken since the 1970s. One side sees an America that has spent the last forty years bankrupting the country by providing benefits for the underachieving, the immoral, and the undeserving-no matter the cost to the majority of Americans. The other side sees an America that has spent the last forty years catering to the wealthy while allowing only a nominal measure of progress for the downtrodden. Using her extended Irish-Catholic working-class family as a case in point and explaining her own political coming-of-age, Walsh shows how liberals unwittingly collaborated in the "us versus them" narrative and how the GOP's renewed culture war now scapegoats segments of its own white demographic. Part memoir, part political history, What's the Matter with White People? is essential reading to combat political and cultural polarization and to build a more just and prosperous multiracial America in the years to come.  Carl Pope, the Executive Director of The Sierra Club, joined us to discuss the pitfalls of the upcoming Copenhagen Summit. The week before, Carl had been heavily featured on the Ken Burns PBS epic, The National Parks: America's Best Idea. We talked about his new book, Strategic Ignorance: Why the Bush Administration Is Recklessly Destroying a Century of Environmental Progress. The Bush White House's environmental record is explored in a study that reveals how it is dismantling a century of environmental progress and, instead of protecting the nation's natural heritage, how it is exploiting that heritage economically.  Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard, who was kidnapped, tortured, and killed outside of Laramie Wyoming, joined us in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, only days before Hate Crime Legislation was expanded by President Obama. Today the name Matthew Shepard is synonymous with gay rights, but until 1998, he was just Judy Shepard's son. In this remarkably candid memoir, Judy Shepard shares the story behind the headlines. Interweaving memories of Matthew and her family with the challenges of confronting her son's death, Judy describes how she handled the crippling loss of her child in the public eye, the vigils and protests held by strangers in her son's name, and ultimately how she and her husband gained the courage to help prosecutors convict her son's murderers. The Meaning of Matthew is more than a retelling of horrific injustice that brought the reality of inequality and homophobia into the American consciousness. It is an unforgettable and inspiring account of how one ordinary woman turned an unthinkable tragedy into a vital message for the world.  Finally, we ended the year with MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer Prize winning writer Taylor Branch, who just published, "The Clinton Tapes," an oral history project on the Bill Clinton during his 8 years in office, in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Branch (At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968, 2006, etc.) approaches the story of Clinton's administration from a unique angle. As a longtime friend of the family, in 1993 the author agreed to assist in recording what was, in effect, Clinton's secret diary. In 79 informal sessions, held sporadically until 2001, Clinton talked spontaneously about recent events, aiming to create an unfiltered, on-the-spot record of events for future historians. The interviews cover a lot of ground: the president's failed health-care reform, the conflict in Bosnia, the Whitewater controversy, the 1996 reelection campaign and much more. The few unguarded episodes-including the time Clinton dozed off in the middle of a taping session due to his exhaustion in the wake of the Democrats' crushing defeat in the 1994 Congressional elections, or when he recalled his final visit with his beloved mother, shortly before her death-are the most riveting aspects of the book. In amazing story, these conversations were taped and kept with Bill Clinton in his sock drawer while in The White House. After each gathering, Taylor Branch would quickly run home and write down as much as he could remember. It is amazing that nobody knew about the existence of these tapes.
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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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