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Linda Carruthers's avatar

You certainly are! I’m not an American but I’ve read all your books and I love them! A great mixture of history and the minutiae of electoral politics. I know it’s niche, but I like it!

TCinLA's avatar

Ah, now we who were there when it was happening know how it is you write like one of us. :-)

Rick Perlstein's avatar

Seriously! My favorite books were 1960s/70s essay collections by the likes of Didion, Baldwin, and Garry Wills, and instead of writing about my present in the way they did about about their present (their wasn't really a market for that, anyway), I joined the conversations they were having about the 1960s and '70s!

Joel Rutstein's avatar

Dear Rick, thanks for letting me know about this soon-to-be-published (May 26!) book. I started reading Doobesbury & enjoying it without fully understanding it at or close to its first appearance in the Chicago Tribune in 1970. To this day, I admire Trudeau the way you describe him in your blurb. I just pre-ordered Kendall’s book, but now I’ll think of it as a gift from one of my all-time favorite authors (and not just because you were so nice to me on Facebook). Sincerely, My beloved Aunt Shirley’s nephew

Joel Rutstein's avatar

I wrote “Doobesbury.” 🙃

Rick Perlstein's avatar

I can dig it. This is Shirley Perlstein, of "Swinging Set" fame?

Joel Rutstein's avatar

Alas, no. You saw an exchange between me and my Aunt (we called each other “Beloved” semi-jokingly) under one of my Facebook posts, and you commented that it was like a performance art piece.