For a historian who writes about battle, Rick Atkinson is surprisingly optimistic. The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and former journalist — who not too long ago launched the second quantity in a trilogy of books in regards to the American Revolution — believes that the bedrock of American democracy is stable sufficient to face up to any assaults on its founding rules.
Because the visitor of honor at a Sunday night time dinner sponsored by the Library Basis of Los Angeles as a part of its biennial Literary Feasts fundraiser, Atkinson was essentially the most upbeat particular person on the occasion, which came about simply earlier than Election Day. Talking to about 18 friends gathered round two round tables fastidiously laid out on the again patio on the house of fellow writers and hosts Meenakshi and Liaquat Ahamed, Atkinson buoyed the flagging spirits of these sure that the nation was at present dangling on the precipice of catastrophe by the hands of the Trump administration.
Guide lovers attend a Literary Feast dinner that includes Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson on the house of writers Meenakshi and Liaquat Ahamed.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
“We’re the beneficiaries of an enlightened political heritage handed right down to us from that founding technology, and it contains strictures on tips on how to divide energy and maintain it from concentrating within the fingers of authoritarians who assume primarily of themselves,” Atkinson stated with the cheery aplomb of a person who has spent the majority of his time burrowing deep inside archives full of harrowing tales of the darkest days the world has ever seen. “We will’t let that slip away. We will’t enable it to be taken away, and we will’t enable ourselves to neglect the lots of of 1000’s who’ve given their lives to affirm and maintain it over the previous 250 years.”
The questions and dialog that adopted Atkinson’s rousing speech in regards to the historical past of the Revolution — together with riveting particulars about key gamers like George Washington who Atkinson famous had “remarkably lifeless eyes” with a purpose to not give away a scintilla of his internal life to curious onlookers — was what the night’s book-loving friends had come for.
“We’re the beneficiaries of an enlightened political heritage handed right down to us from that founding technology,” stated Rick Atkinson.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
A complete of 40 authors are hosted at salon-style occasions at 40 homes with greater than 750 friends over the course of a single night, elevating greater than $2 million for the Library Basis, which is a separate entity from the general public library. Based in 1992 within the wake of the devastating 1986 fireplace at downtown’s Central Library, which destroyed greater than 400,000 books, the inspiration seeks to proceed the community-driven mission of the library when funding runs quick, together with supporting grownup training, early literacy applications for youngsters, and providers for immigrants and the unhoused.
“I usually describe it because the dream-fueling work, the life-changing work,” stated Stacy Lieberman, the Library Basis’s president and chief government. “As a result of it’s a number of the one-on-one assist that folks will get.”
The Basis sometimes raises about $7 million to $8 million a yr, with an working finances of almost $11 million, so cash raised by the Literary Feasts is a major slice of the funding pie. The feasts started in 1997 and have continued apace each different yr since then, that includes a who’s who of literary accomplishment throughout each style. Writers previous and current embody Sue Grafton, Jane Fonda, Ann Patchett, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Abraham Verghese, Scott Turow and Michael Connelly.
Dinner hosts fund the occasions themselves — no small outlay contemplating the lavish choices.
Friends have been served steak with roasted carrots, turnips and potatoes.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
The Ahameds delighted friends with a tangy grapefruit and greens salad, adopted by tender steak with roasted carrots, turnips and potatoes; a dessert of sizzling apple tart à la mode drizzled with caramel sauce; and loads of crisp crimson and white wine. Each hosts are literary luminaries in their very own proper: Liaquat, a former funding supervisor, received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for historical past for his guide “Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World” and Meenakshi not too long ago printed “Indian Genius: The Meteoric Rise of Indians in America.”
The couple travels in bookish circles and enjoys internet hosting salons at their house, together with one earlier this yr in assist of New Yorker political columnist Susan Glasser and her husband, New York Occasions chief White Home correspondent Peter Baker. As mates of Atkinson, the Ahameds did their half to introduce him, and later tried their finest to entice him to cease taking questions and eat his dinner.
The visitor of honor couldn’t be persuaded. There was an excessive amount of to say. “The Destiny of the Day,” which explores the bloody center years of the Revolution from 1777 to 1780, was launched in April, and Atkinson has spent the previous eight months touring and talking on panels with documentarian Ken Burns to advertise Burns’ six-part documentary sequence “The American Revolution,” which premieres Nov. 16 on PBS.
Atkinson is a featured speaker within the sequence and has been concerned with it for about 4 years.
The dinner that includes Rick Atkinson was one in all 40 going down throughout city that night. The occasions raised $2 million for the Library Basis of Los Angeles.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
The week earlier than the Literary Feast, Atkinson and Burns spoke to members of Congress in Washington, D.C., and in addition screened a 40-minute clip at Mount Vernon the place Atkinson mentioned Washington’s distinctive abilities as a common.
“I’ve seen the entire thing a number of occasions and it’s implausible,” Atkinson stated of the 12-hour movie. “It’s as you’ll count on: fantastically filmed, splendidly informed, nice narrative.”
The nation is now greater than 4 months into its semiquincentennial, which Atkinson joked “appears like a medical process,” however is definitely the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. It’s well-known that Trump is planning a splashy celebration, with festivities and commemorations intensifying over the subsequent eight months, culminating in a grand celebration in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2026.
Rick Atkinson’s guide “The Destiny of the Day,” which explores the bloody center years of the Revolution from 1777 to 1780, was launched in April.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Occasions)
“My hope is that as a rustic, we use the chance to replicate on these primary questions of who we’re, the place we got here from, what our forebears believed and what they have been prepared to die for,” stated Atkinson. “I’m optimistic as a result of I’m a historian, as a result of I do know our historical past. Regardless of how grim issues appear in 2025, we have now confronted grimmer occasions prior to now, existential threats of the primary order, beginning with the Revolution.”
The politically deflated may also take into account World Battle II — the topic of Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy — the second quantity of which received the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for historical past. The author is aware of his stuff. Friends — and readers — take coronary heart.
