POWER FAMILIES
THE APPLE DOESN’T FALL FAR FROM THE TREE. JUST IN TIME FOR MOTHER’S AND FATHER’S DAYS, WE ASKED SONS AND DAUGHTERS — POWER PLAYERS IN THEIR OWN RIGHT — WHAT THEY ADMIRE ABOUT THEIR INFLUENTIAL PARENTS. PORTRAITS BY TONY POWELL
“The most important thing my dad has taught me is to pursue a higher calling. A job cannot just be about receiving a paycheck. It has to deliver something more for both yourself and for the community around you.” — ZACH LEONSIS
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Zach Leonsis, Vice President and GM, Monumental Network, and Ted Leonsis, Owner and CEO, Monumental Sports and Entertainment. Photographed at Verizon Center.
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“What I admire most about my mom is her huge heart, unrelenting tenacity and the fact that my brother and I never had any doubt that our family was more important than her career.” — EVAN MORGAN
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Evan Morgan, Partner, Revolution Growth, and Gloria Borger, Chief Political Analyst, CNN. Photographed at Cafe Milano.
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FAMILY PORTRAITS
“My father has always inspired me to reach higher than I ever thought I could, especially with my music. A musician himself, we just get each other. No matter what audience I am playing for, it is my dad who’s feedback I admire the most.” — MARY ANNE HUNTSMAN
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Jon Huntsman, Chairman, Atlantic Council, and Mary Anne Huntsman, concert pianist. Photographed at the Mayflower Hotel.
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LIGHTS OUT By Ted Koppel You can’t say he didn’t warn us. Investigative journalist Ted Koppel’s “Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath” would seem at first glance to be apocalyptic fiction, but the longtime “Nightline” anchor insists it’s all too real. Koppel imagines a scenario in which America’s power grid is compromised by a major cyberattack, leading to panic and mass chaos. He insists the U.S. government is unprepared for such an “inevitable” attack. Similar to his approach as a newscaster, Koppel succeeds in making a complex issue accessible, and entertaining, to a wide reading audience. (Penguin Random House, $26) M TRAIN By Patti Smith If you loved her National Book Award winning memoir “Just Kids” as much as we did, it’s time to read legendary musician Patti Smith’s latest book, “M Train.” Just as she’s done before, Smith vividly transports you to New York City in the ’70s and all the other places she’s lived, people she’s loved and lessons learned along the way in a book she calls “a roadmap of my life.” Filled with ruminations on craft and creation, it’s the perfect gift for the artist in your life. (Knopf Doubleday, $25)
DC TRIP By Sara Benincasa A fun read with substance, comedian Sara Benincasa’s novel will appeal to teens and adults alike. A new teacher is in over her head when chaperoning a class trip to Washington. Moments of hilarity ensue. “DC Trip” is a good read when you want to laugh or bond with the teenager in your life. (Adaptive Books, $24.99) DREAMS OF THE RED PHOENIX By Virginia Pye Richmond novelist Virginia Pye takes you to 1937 China in a story inspired by the life of her grandmother. Historical fiction at its best, “Dreams of the Red Phoenix” will entertain, make you think and give a history lesson at the same time. Author Gish Jen says the Virginia Literary Awards finalist is “Gripping, convincing and heartbreaking… powerfully evocative of the complexities of life in 1930’s China.” (Unbridled Books, $16)
MY LIFE ON THE ROAD By Gloria Steinem Gloria Steinem delivers her first full-length book in more than 20 years, a memoir that takes us BECOMING NICOLE THE on a journey from her early days TRANSFORMATION OF AN of activist organizing to more recent travels AMERICAN FAMILY around the world. Speaking recently at Sixth By Amy Ellis Nutt & I Historic Synagogue, Steinem said that for “What does it feel like to be her, traveling is “a form of meditation.” With a problem?” Washington Post this sharp, witty read, the 81-year-old feminist science reporter Amy Ellis Nutt asks in shows us that, as she famously said, “Women the prologue to this national bestseller. may be the one group that grows more radical The fascinating true story she proceeds to with age.” (Penguin Random House,$28) tell attempts to answer this heartbreaking SOMETHING MUST BE question by following Nicole, a transgender DONE ABOUT PRINCE teen, her identical twin brother and their EDWARD COUNTY family in their journey to understand and By Kristen Green come to terms with Nicole’s identity and A central Virginia newspaper transition. Nutt’s four years of reporting reporter blends memoir and pays off in this extraordinary, timely work history in a tale that hits close to home. After of nonfiction. (Penguin
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hearing of the story of an epic walkout by white students at the local public school in 1951, Green interviews friends and family to get to the bottom of her damaged hometown’s racial history, including a Virginia school system that shut down after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision rather than integrate the schools, and the brave community leaders who worked to gain quality education for all. (HarperCollins, $13.99) BRAVE ENOUGH By Cheryl Strayed As an anonymous columnist for The Rumpus, author Cheryl Strayed delivered sage nuggets of wisdom that helped many beyond the advice-seekers. Her columns were previously compiled into a book called “Tiny Beautiful Things” and now, along with memorable lines from her bestselling memoir.
“I have never met anybody with such ambition; she loves going to dance lessons and works out just about every day for her own benefit. As she once told me and continuously tells me, she also does it for me, because working out can increase your lifespan and she wants to be around as long as possible for me.” — QUINN BRADLEE
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Quinn Bradlee, film maker and founder, Friends of Quinn, and Sally Quinn, author and journalist. Photographed at StudiowerksDC.
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“My dad has inspired me because of the career he has made in a field that you could argue is splintering and dying. He sticks to his classic training as a journalist, reporting in a world where many don’t understand the art of gathering information.” — MEREDITH FINEMAN
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Meredith Fineman, CEO, Finepoint Communications, and Howard Fineman, Global Editorial Director, Huffington Post Media Group. Photographed at StudiowerksDC.