Author Talk Series: Clay Risen and Congressman Jimmy Panetta
As deputy op-ed editor of The New York Times, Clay Risen has been on the front lines of following the wild national political events of the last three years and he’s also the author of several volumes of popular history, written with his patented combination of exhaustive research, fresh and lively analysis, and attention to the little details that define character. His past works include A Nation on Fire: America in the Wake of the King Assassination and The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act. Clay joins us to discuss his new book, The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders and the Dawn of the American Century, and much more. He’ll be joined in conversation by Congressman Jimmy Panetta, local representative to those of us in the Santa Cruz area and beyond. Panetta, a graduate of Carmel High School, earned a Bronze Star as a Navy intelligence officer in the U.S. war in Afghanistan in 2007 and served as a deputy district attorney in Monterey County before first being elected to the House of Representatives in 2016. In Washington, he’s made a name as an advocate for green issues and bipartisanship. He’ll be sharing his ideas on how to encourage people of diverse views to come together face to face to talk out issues instead of merely trading pot shots on social media.
The discussion will be moderated by Wellstone Center co-director Steve Kettmann, an author and New York Times contributor, and we’ll be happy to take your questions.
“People need to understand that yes, our democracy is based on our values, but it’s left up to people to implement those values,” Panetta told Kettmann for the cover story in the Dec. 3 Good Times Santa Cruz. “It’s left up to moral people, people who have the morality to push these values forward. As we go forward, as we act and work with each other, in Congress but also in our society, we have to realize that … this is a democracy that’s about relationships and about trust, and we have to work on that.”