Steve Inskeep of NPR presents “Jacksonland” at Malaprop’s, June 1

NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep presents his new book, Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab, at Malaprop’s on Monday, June 1. The book is “a sober, balanced examination of the origins of one of the more regrettable chapters in American history,” according to Kirkus Reviews. The event is at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and come with a $10 coupon toward the purchase of Jacksonland.

Press release from Malaprop’s:

Five decades after the Revolutionary War, the United States faced a constitutional crisis. At its center stood two men, former military comrades locked in a struggle that tested the boundaries of our fledgling democracy. Jacksonland is their story.

One man we recognize: Andrew Jackson – war hero, populist, and exemplar of the expanding South – whose first major initiative as president instigated the massive expulsion of Native Americans known as the Trail of Tears. The other is a half-forgotten figure: John Ross – a mixed-race Cherokee politician and diplomat – who used the United States’ own legal system and democratic ideals to oppose Jackson.

In a fight that seems at once distant and familiar, Ross and his allies made their case in the media, committed civil disobedience, and benefited from the first mass political action by American women. Their struggle contained ominous overtures of later events, such as the Civil War, and set the pattern for modern-day politics.

Inskeep offers in Jacksonland a heart-stopping narrative masterpiece, a tragedy of American history that feels ripped from the headlines in its immediacy, drama, and relevance to our lives. Harrowing, inspiring, and deeply moving, Inskeep’s Jacksonland is the story of America at a moment of transition, when the fate of states and nations was decided by the actions of two heroic yet tragically opposed men.

“Confident, lucid prose…The author knows how to hold an audience… Well-researched, -organized, and -presented, this is a sober, balanced examination of the origins of one of the more regrettable chapters in American history.” – Kirkus Reviews

About the Author
Steve Inskeep is one of the hosts of NPR’s Morning Edition, the most widely heard radio news program in the United States. Known for probing questions to everyone from presidents to warlords to musicians, Inskeep has a passion for stories of the less famous. Inskeep is also the author of Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi, a book on one of the world’s great megacities.

Tickets are $15 and come with a coupon for $10 off Jacksonland from Malaprop’s. Coupons can be applied to
preorders. The book will be available May 19th.