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A Memoir
by Gail Godwin
From the three-time National Book Award nominee and New York Times bestselling author Gail Godwin comes an incandescent reflection on past and present that speaks urgently to our current political moment.
"He just had the presidency stolen from him."
It's November 1960, and a crush of reporters eagerly await the first postelection meeting between Kennedy and Nixon when Nixon's ally Bebe Rebozo speaks these words to the crowd. Among the eyewitnesses is Gail Godwin, reporting for the Miami Herald.
Hearing these words echoed in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Godwin embarks on a project to reflect on that long-ago moment and offset a mounting pressure of dread about the election that loomed ahead.
In looking back at her life as a young woman abroad, her early marriage, her friendships with Kurt Vonnegut and John Irving juxtaposed with chronicles of the recent election cycle, she discovers an understory that surprises her-one that leads her to ask, "What, at this late date, did I still want to become?" With hope, urgency, and a yearning so many now feel, Godwin's blend of history and memoir delivers both inspiration and a rousing battle call, encouraging readers to engage in their own reflection on the art and meaning of being a citizen.
"A slightly scattered but still noteworthy and perceptive retrospective." —Kirkus Reviews
"Godwin's wide-lens perspective, and her discussion of coping with uncertainty by meditating on psalms and supporting the distribution of banned books, offers a road map for readers horrified by the state of the world. It's a balm." —Publishers Weekly
"Written with the usual clarity and honesty of this exemplary writer." —Library Journal
"Godwin ponders the current vulnerability of democracy and the necessity of dissent along with the 'hypersonic speed' of history-in-the-making and the need to live as attentively and ethically as one can." —Booklist
This information about The Art of Becoming a Citizen was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
© John Kleinhans
Gail Godwin is a three-time National Book Award finalist and the bestselling author of twelve critically acclaimed novels, including Violet Clay, Father Melancholy's Daughter, Evensong, The Good Husband and Evenings at Five. She is also the author of The Making of a Writer, her journal in two volumes (ed. Rob Neufeld). She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts grants for both fiction and libretto writing, and the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Gail Godwin lives in Woodstock, New York. Visit her website at www.gailgodwin.com
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