Paperback launch for "Senator and The Socialite"

After reading about me and my 6-year book project in the pages of The Washington Post, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Ebony and Reader's Digest, some of you have emailed me regarding my upcoming political biography.

Next month, I will be traveling on a 10-city publicity tour for the paperback launch of my book, The Senator and The Socialite, which is a biography of Senator Blanche Bruce, the first black to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate. This book is timely as the nation watches Senator Barack Obama's race to become the first black President. Whether the victor is my Chappaqua neighbor Senator Hillary Clinton, or Senator Obama or one of the other candidates, many Americans are fascinated by the rise of the African American politician in national politics. My new book explores that history by beginning with the incredible story of Blanche Bruce, who was born a slave and then became a wealthy Mississippi landowner before finally being elected to the U.S. Senate.


During the next few days, my publisher HarperCollins will begin to post my TV, radio, print and in-store appearances. I will list them here early next month because I hope that you will tune in, buy the book, or come meet me as I appear in book stores in various cities.

Whomever you are supporting in the 2008 Presidential race, I hope that "The Senator and The Socialite" will further illustrate the way in which race, politics and class intersect in national politics both today and in the past.