Notes
The excitement of Marylanders over the state's primary election coming Tuesday is understandable. It's been a long time since national candidates have pursued the state's primary voters the way Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are now. Those caught up in the political excitement could well enjoy some books that recall Maryland's rich political history.
A good place to start would be former Democratic Gov. Harry R. Hughes' autobiography, My Unexpected Journey (History Press / 224 pages / $36.99). Hughes, who grew up in a sleepy Eastern Shore farm town, won a remarkable Maryland primary in September 1978.
Pitted against better-known rivals, hopelessly short of money and running a campaign staffed with amateurs, Hughes came out of nowhere to win the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in what remains one of the biggest upsets in Maryland political history. Two months later, he was elected in the largest landslide in state history to the first of two terms as Maryland's 57th governor.
Widely credited with restoring integrity to the governor's office, Hughes earned bipartisan respect with his low-key workmanlike manner as he produced a remarkable record of accomplishments, including major tax and education reform, protection of the Chesapeake Bay and significant infrastructure improvements.
The Hughes autobiography, published in 2006, was described in The Sun at the time as "a tour of a half-century of Maryland politics and the dramas that shaped the state: a struggle over civil rights, urban flight, and scandal and corruption at the highest level."
Another interesting Maryland political book is Very Strange Bedfellows: The Short and Unhappy Marriage of Richard Nixon & Spiro Agnew by Jules Witcover (Public Affairs / 412 pages / $27.95). Witcover, a former Sun political reporter and columnist, describes the odd relationship between President Nixon and former Maryland Governor Agnew, whose political love affair disintegrated over five years into a calamitous denouement. Witcover has also co-authored an acclaimed account of the Agnew resignation, A Heartbeat Away.
Calendar
Thursday, Feb. 12
Nathan McCall -- The writer reads and signs his new novel, Them. In this fiction debut from the author of the best-selling memoir Makes Me Wanna Holler, McCall tells the story of a poor, traditionally black neighborhood in Atlanta as it confronts gentrification and the explosive interplay of class, race and economics. McCall is a professor of African-American studies at Emory University. Them was named one of the best books of 2007 by Publishers Weekly. / 6:30 p.m. / Pratt Library, central library, 400 Cathedral St. / Poe Room Tuesday, March 11
Laura Lippman -- Have breakfast with the award-winning mystery author, who will be signing her new Tess Monaghan mystery, Another Thing to Fall. / 8 a.m. / Spoons Restaurant / 24 E. Cross St. / Baltimore