The Art of Becoming a Citizen - by Gail Godwin (Hardcover)

About the Book

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.

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"Could just as easily be called Getting to Know Life. As a meditation, it is both unsentimental and full of wonder. As a piece of writing, it stands beside the best of Godwin's fiction. Extraordinary." --Ann Patchett, New York Times bestselling author of TOM LAKE on GETTING TO KNOW DEATH

"Radiant." --Laura Miller, Slate, on GETTING TO KNOW DEATH

"As always, wry, beady-eyed, acute." --Margaret Atwood, via Twitter on OLD LOVEGOOD GIRLS

"A chronicle of her life as a writer whose career has been boosted and buffeted by the vagaries of the publishing industry. She has made of it a suspenseful account, with . . . emotional depth, too." --The Wall Street Journal on PUBLISHING: A WRITER'S MEMOIR

About the Author

Gail Godwin is the bestselling author of more than twenty critically acclaimed books, including the memoir Getting to Know Death, and the novels Grief Cottage, Grief Cottage, Evensong, and A Mother and Two Daughters. 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. She lives in Woodstock, New York. www.gailgodwin.com