Bookshop Santa Cruz welcomes author Erik Larson for a discussion of his #1 New York Times bestseller The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz. Larson will be in conversation with UC Santa Cruz Politics Professor Daniel Wirls. This event is cosponsored by The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz and will take place at the Cowell Ranch Hay Barn. This event is ticketed and tickets includes entry to the event and a paperback copy of The Splendid and the Vile (publication date: February 15, 2022).

Erik Larson is the author of six New York Times bestsellers, most recently The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, which examines how Winston Churchill and his “Secret Circle” went about surviving the German air campaign of 1940-41. Larson’s The Devil in the White City is set to be a Hulu limited series; his In the Garden of Beasts is under option by Tom Hanks for a feature film. He recently published an audio-original ghost story, No One Goes Alone, which has been optioned by Chernin Entertainment, in association with Netflix. His Thunderstruck has been optioned by Sony Pictures Television for a limited TV series. Larson lives in Manhattan with his wife, who is a writer and retired neonatologist; they have three grown daughters.

Daniel Wirls is a Professor of Politics at UC Santa Cruz. He received his PhD in Government from Cornell University in 1988 and has been teaching at UC Santa Cruz ever since. Dan’s research interests range across American politics, institutions, public policy, and political history. His five books include The Senate: From White Supremacy to Government Gridlock (2021); Irrational Security: The Politics of Defense from Reagan to Obama, and The Federalist Papers and Institutional Power in American Political Development. Dan served as a congressional fellow in 1993-94, working for a member of the House and the Senate, and currently serves on the board of the Council for a Livable World, the nation’s oldest anti-nuclear weapons political action committee.

Tickets include entry to the in-person event, plus a paperback copy of THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE (signed or with bookplate—see below)
-This event will be hosted on the The University of California, Santa Cruz campus, which requires that all visitors must complete UCSC’s COVID-19 Symptom Check Questionnaire the day of the event. Attendees must also provide proof of vaccination at the door, and remain masked for the duration of their time at the event.
The event is in-person only; no streaming option is available at this time and the event will not be recorded.
BOOKS:

Books will become available for pickup beginning on publication date and may be picked up at Bookshop Santa Cruz prior to the event if desired, however:
-PLEASE NOTE that due to COVID-19 there will be no public signing line at the event; the author will be pre-signing books (with optional personalization) on the day of the event.
-If you would like your book to be signed and/or personalized, it cannot be collected before the event. (Indicate personalization request on the Order screen when purchasing.)
-If you would like to collect your book ahead of time, you’ll receive a signed bookplate, and personalization will not be available.