First Families

Kenneth T. Walsh is the chief White House correspondent for U.S. News and World Report. He is the author of the daily blog “Ken Walsh’s Washington” for usnews.com, and “The Presidency,” a weekly column for the U.S. News Weekly. He has covered the presidency since 1986, and is one of the longest-serving White House correspondents in history. Walsh is the former president of the White House Correspondents’ Association. He is the author of six other books, including, Prisoners of the White House and Family of Freedom. His latest book, Celebrity in Chief: A History of the Presidents and the Culture of Stardom (Paradigm) takes a detailed and comprehensive look at the history of America’s presidents as “celebrities in chief” since the beginning of the Republic. Among the special features of the book are detailed profiles of the presidents and how they measured up or failed as celebrities; an historical analysis of America’s popular culture and how presidents have played a part in it, from sports and television to movies and the news media; the role of first ladies; and a portfolio of fascinating photos illustrating the intersection of the presidency with popular culture.

Peter Slevin spent a decade on the national staff of The Washington Post before joining Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where he is an associate professor. He has written extensively about Barack and Michelle Obama, as well as political campaigns and policy debates from one end of the country to the other. Slevin graduated from Princeton and Oxford. His biography, Michelle Obama: A Life (Knopf) is the first comprehensive account of the life and times of Michelle Obama. Slevin follows Michelle to the White House from her working-class childhood on Chicago’s largely segregated South Side. He illuminates her tribulations at Princeton University and Harvard Law School during the racially charged 1980s and the dilemmas she faced in Chicago while building a high-powered career, raising a family and helping a young community organizer named Barack Obama become president of the United States. From the lessons she learned in Chicago to the messages she shares as one of the most recognizable women in the world, the story of this First Lady is the story of America. Michelle Obama: A Life is a fresh and compelling view of a woman of unique achievement and purpose.