Q&A with Alice McDermott

 

 

 

Alice McDermott is the author of the new novel Absolution. Her other books include the novel Charming Billy. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Absolution, and why did you decide to set the novel in Vietnam in 1963?

 

A: No one thing, of course. But Graham Greene's The Quiet American was much on my mind as I started out.

 

A novel I first read as an undergraduate, and have read many times since, always marveling at its political prescience, but also always dismayed by its failure to give any depth to its female characters, the Vietnamese women as well as the briefly-noticed American "girls" working in Saigon.

 

1963 was pivotal in Vietnam, in the U.S. as well. I'm not the first to notice what an incredible year it was.

 

Not just the assassination of Diem in Saigon and JFK in Dallas, but the year of Medgar Evers's assassination, the March on Washington and MLK's speech, the changes of Vatican II and the death of John the XXIII, the publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. A year on the precipice of many changes.

 

But, of course, the entire novel is not set in Vietnam in 1963, and it's a memoir of sorts, recollected from a present closer to our own. 

 

To my mind, then, it's not so much about time and place but about the permutations of time and memory and the way time and memory can test our assurances and intentions.

 

I think the novel is more about our (human beings) troubling, noble, complicated notions about selflessness, and self-sacrifice, than it is about Vietnam in 1963.

 

In fact, even before I had the notion to riff on Graham Greene, I knew the story would be about Dominic's love for his adopted child.

        

Q: How did you research the novel, and did you learn anything especially surprising?

 

A: I began by revisiting all the Vietnam novels I knew and admired: Tim O'Brien's, Robert Stone's, Denis Johnson's. And then I reread the histories and memoirs of the war that I already had on my shelf. 

 

Of course, these were all war stories - and I knew from the start I wasn't writing a war story - but they gave me an immersive sense of place.

 

As the novel began to take on its own life, I read and watched news reports from the early ‘60s, just to be reminded of how we thought and spoke in those days. Our naiveté, as well as our gobsmacking biases - especially regarding women - were always surprising.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between your characters Patricia and Charlene?

 

A: Don't know that I can describe it in a few words, thus the whole novel. But I guess I could say they are mentor and mentee, a "dynamo" and her reluctant side-kick. 

 

They share, of course, the constrictions of that time and place and culture, so in some way they're both making the best of their chains.  They're also friends, women friends - with all the complications and implications the label involves, if you can shake off the "Mean Girls" cliches. 

 

Q: In a review of Absolution for NPR, Maureen Corrigan said, “McDermott possesses the rare ability to evoke and enter bygone worlds — pre-Vatican II Catholicism, pre-feminist-movement marriages — without condescending to them. She understands that the powerhouses can dominate the helpmeets. She also understands that playing God is the role of a lifetime — and every human actor should turn it down.” What do you think of that assessment?

 

A: I don't read (or listen to) reviews of my work, so while I'm grateful for intelligent assessments - and Maureen's reviews are always intelligent - I can't take them to heart. 

 

But, for further discussion, I'd wonder about how one is to do good in the world (alleviate the suffering of children, say) and still avoid the accusation that you are playing God?

 

Do right intentions absolve wrong outcomes? Does hindsight give one generation the permission to condemn those who came before? Is it better to say (as the Generals sing at Charlene's cocktail parties) "What will be will be?" Or are we meant to "repair the world."

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Another couple of novels. Always. I've been at this long enough to know that is just what I do.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Alice McDermott.

Q&A with Angie Elita Newell

 

 

 

Angie Elita Newell is the author of the new novel All I See Is Violence. She is a historian and she belongs to the Liidlii Kue First Nation from the Dehcho. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write All I See Is Violence?

 

A: My inspiration for this novel circumvented me through a tumultuous point in my life. I was at a crossroads in my academic career and trying to process what had been done to my ancestors. I was at a feast and an elder turned to me and said, Did you know that there were female warriors?

 

I was not aware of that; here I was an academically trained historian in my own history and I was ignorant to that information. When I started to look into it through archival research I found out not only were there women warriors but there were battles fought against the United States military in which half the American Indian warriors were women, and they won the battle.

 

Given the female size discrepancies to their male counterparts, they learned to fight differently to make up for the strength and size advantages of the men that they faced, often becoming very sure shots, and when in hand-to-hand combat, the same thing, they would immediately strike to kill with a cunning accuracy.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: I am an American Indian from Fort Simpson, located in the Northwest Territories of Canada; we are directly related to the Navajo and share the same linguistic family, Dene.

 

As an Indian you come to the understanding very early on that we’ve lost everything. Reservations are prison camps and the governments of North America have broken every treaty they have ever made with us and then took it a step further and launched a hundred-year campaign that forcibly stole our children to reeducated them to a “Western standard,” called boarding schools in the United States and residential schools in Canada.

 

Here every imaginable atrocity was inflicted upon the stolen children by the church and government-appointed care providers, physical, mental, and sexual abuse, medical experimentation, and murder were commonplace.

 

I know these truths from a personal level because my mother was sent to one of them, La Pointe Hall in Fort Simpson; she persevered and went on to become an air force pilot for the Royal Canadian Armed Forces.

 

The level of trauma within the indigenous communities, the fallout of colonialism, and a calculated genocide within North America leads to more often than not a chaotic childhood for indigenous children as suicide and substance abuse are rampant and my childhood was one of turmoil.

 

I found solace in English literature. I learned to read at a high level from a young age and immersed myself in the writings of Mark Twain, Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett, and Charles Dickens. Books such as Huckleberry Finn, The Secret Garden, and Oliver Twist were stories I went back to repeatedly, bringing me comfort in a world that was very unstable. 

As a young adult I was led to academia through my incessant wondering as to why all these things had been done to us, the American Indians. As my knowledge base grew, I matured into an understanding that this oppression isn’t something that is necessarily unique to North America but is a pattern being enacted on a global stage and it is through awareness that we can put an end to it. Who controls the past controls the future and every single being deserves a peaceful life full of abundance and joy.

 

Then I lost my own son, and my very faith was shaken to its core, I completely left my academic life and started writing stories, my people’s stories and it is there I found not only god but love, a universal love, an understanding that regardless of everything this earth is wondrous and spectacular and she’s worth all of us coming together to protect and have reverence for.

 

Q: I’m so sorry about the loss of your son…

 

I know that the novel was based on a true story--what did you see as the right balance between history and fiction as you worked on the book?

 

A: All I See is Violence is about 75 percent factual, with a speckling of fiction brought through the characters, Little Wolf and Nancy.

 

Their relationships are also fictitious but they are set amongst very important points in modern historical, defining moments that have shaped our current reality, so it was important to me to keep so much of it grounded in actual happenings.

 

I am a mother and I have daughters and just as my ancestors taught me, I teach them our history through stories.

 

When I was researching the last battles of the Indian Wars, I was drawn to the story of General Custer. His life is like a Shakespearean tragedy. The more I researched him the more inconceivable it became and shocking that he died the way he did.

 

He was a valiant and talented warrior, and some readers are taken aback by his inclusion. If you read his autobiography, you’ll find a vain, confident human and he had every reason to be.

 

I wanted Custer to be the juxtaposition to Little Wolf to illustrate the 19th-century cultural differences and to weave alongside one another like two steam engines about to hit head-on. And I needed a vehicle for this information, and I couldn’t have asked for a more sensational one.

 

So, I chose to use Custer to include the academic knowledge of governmental policies of the 19th century. Readers who struggle with him need to still their mind and see past any sort of projection. Friction is our greatest teacher. It is here you can learn a deeper version of yourself, and you will come out with a greater wisdom.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: What I hope readers take away from my work is that the only thing that will ever matter is love, and some things can be fleeting, a moment that passes you by, but love is eternal, it can withstand anything thrown at it and I see this in my people, despite everything that has been done to us, here we are, here I am, still standing, still telling our stories.

 

And to every person who is willing to read my story I want to thank you. It is with an immense honor and gratitude to share our history with you, for we are all one and our story, our history is also yours, and may we all forge a better future together.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am currently working on the life story of the Apache warrior Geronimo. He evaded the American military for close to three decades and won battles against a thousand-armed forces with 50 warriors at his side and one of the most important being Chief Victorio’s sister, Lozen, a female warrior with supernatural capabilities. Their allies were Magnas Colorado and Cochise. This is their story, the return of the Bird Tribe.   

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Janice Lynn Mather

 

 

 

Janice Lynn Mather is the author of the new young adult novel Where Was Goodbye?. Her other books include the YA novel Learning to Breathe. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Where Was Goodbye?, and how did you create your character Karmen?

 

A: It feels cliched to say that inspiration struck, but it really did. In November 2019, I sat down to make plans for projects and goals for the following year, and Karmen’s character and dilemma—the loss of her brother by suicide, and her drive to find out his why—popped into my mind.

 

It wasn’t a topic I had immediate experience with, though, like everyone, I’d heard of tragic situations like the one Karmen and her family face.

 

2020 hit, and it was an intensely stressful time. The news was on my radar more, including news from The Bahamas, where the story is set, and where I grew up. There were a number of well publicized deaths by suicide, and some frustratingly insensitive and ill-informed comments made publicly, which fueled my passion for telling Karmen’s and Julian’s story.

 

My own son died soon after he was born, very unexpectedly, right as I was about to begin working on the novel in earnest.

 

I would never have chosen to write a story about coping with death while I was living through the very early, very raw days of losing my own son.

 

The circumstances are totally different than those of Karmen’s brother’s death, but the experience of raw, bewildering grief and the confusion of looking for answers, felt and still feels very much the same.

 

Karmen’s character has always simply felt meant to be. I wish I hadn’t had so much immediate personal experience to pour into her, but in writing her story, I hope to be able to honour and represent those of us grieving without answers—and those who aren’t here, whatever the circumstances.

 

Q: I’m so sorry about the loss of your son…

 

I wanted to ask you about the novel’s title, about how it was chosen, and what it signifies for you?

 

A: Where Was Goodbye? emerged in thinking about how to encapsulate Karmen’s journey. Her brother’s death was sudden and unexpected, so she’s not only grieving and searching, but in shock.

 

It’s not only Where is my brother? and Where are the answers? but Where was a farewell? There’s also Karmen’s struggle with her feelings of responsibility, regret, and guilt.

 

I don’t want to give the story away, but, like many who are grieving, Karmen is looking for answers, asking whether she played a role, and grappling with unanswerable what-ifs as she wishes for a different outcome for Julian.

Q: Did you know how the story would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: This story’s tragedy is presented up front, and in that way, I knew the ending before I began to write. I also had an idea of destination in terms of where Karmen lands in her quest for knowledge.  

 

The bigger changes lay more in the specific steps and turns Karmen takes as she looks for understanding and information. Characters like Robbie, Pru, Layla, and Isaiah also shifted in prominence, through the process. It took a while to land on who were the more involved supporting characters.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: Every reader is different, but I think of two broad categories: those who have lived or are living through grief, and those who haven’t.

 

For those who’ve lived through grief, I hope they come away feeling heard and seen. For those who haven’t, I hope they’re able to extract a bit of understanding of what it means to lose someone—and how to love and support them thoughtfully.

 

Q: What are you working on next?

 

A: For now I’m shifting to working on projects for older readers. The most current one is a historical fiction piece, Madame Dee’s Luck Dream Emporium.

 

It follows four families over hundreds of years, dipping from past to the present, where an overbearing mother goes to extreme lengths to reveal a secret to her semi-estranged daughter, through dreams.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: This story could never have been told without the empathy and kindness of my editor, Catherine Laudone and Rachel Letofsky, my agent.

 

Both provided gentle generosity in helping me rework logistics like deadlines, because I was in the thick of grieving as I wrote, just as you’ll find Karmen in the thick of grieving as you read. There were times when I really needed to pause, and their understanding made it possible to continue.

There are several resources at the end of Where Was Goodbye? pertaining to suicide prevention and mental health support, and a note at the beginning letting readers know that the story handles grief, death, suicide, and loss.

 

As you read, be kind to yourself. Take time if that’s what you need. I did.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

April 29

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
April 29, 1954: Jerry Seinfeld born.

Q&A with Cynthia Harmony

 

 

 

Cynthia Harmony is the author of the new children's picture book A Flicker of Hope: A Story of Migration. Her other books include Mexico. She lives in Tucson, Arizona.

 

Q: What inspired you to write A Flicker of Hope?

 

A: A few years ago my sister worked with the indigenous communities in Mexico to develop and brand sustainable crafts, products, and tourism offerings within the Monarch Reserve region and produce videos.

 

Watching this footage and listening to her experience inspired me to share the story about monarchs and the community in Mexico that welcomes them back every winter.

 

Q: What do you think Devon Holzwarth’s illustrations add to the story?

 

A: To me art in a picture book is more than 50 percent to the story. The art is what first grabs the reader’s attention from the cover, endpapers and through each spread.

 

Devon is incredibly skilled in visual storytelling and she created a beautiful and impactful emotional journey. She elevated the story creating the type of book that moves you and stays with you long after you’re done reading.

Q: Did you need to do any research to write the book, and, if so, did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: I did a lot of research on migration, the butterflies, and on the Mazahúa indigenous community that lives in the Monarch Reserve area in Mexico.

 

There was not one surprising fact since I grew up in Mexico; what I found surprising, however, was how all of these facts were so closely connected, making the parallel story flow even better than I first imagined.

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book called it a “beautiful story about cycles and traditions that shines a light on migration.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I agree it’s absolutely a beautiful story. :)  We are so thankful and happy with this starred review! It is an accurate description since natural life cycles and traditions are interwoven with migration patterns in the story.

 

Another sentence I love from that review that I think really captures the heart of the book is: “The love between Lucia and her father reverberates deeply through subtle echoes.”

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m translating a picture book that will be my first fully bilingual edition, both English and Spanish text on the same spread for an unannounced project.

 

I’m also revising another manuscript to be able to send something new to my agent soon and I’m drafting a fun chapter book.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Lisa Greenwald

 

 

 

Lisa Greenwald is the author of the new middle grade novel Ellie's Deli: Wishing on Matzo Ball Soup!. Her many other books include the Friendship List series. She lives in New York.

 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Ellie’s Deli, and how did you create your character Ellie and her family?

 

A: A love of deli and grandparents inspired Ellie’s Deli. I was super close to my grandparents growing up and I wanted to write about a character who had that relationship as well. Add in a deli setting and voila - it all came together!

 

Q: How did you choose the recipes you included in the book, and do you have a particular favorite?

 

A: I went through the recipe box I got as an engagement gift and then also my mom's recipe packet and selected my favorites. My bubbie's matzo ball recipe is my ULTIMATE favorite.

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book called it a “cute and concretely Jewish take on a classic storyline.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I love this description. I love to write about Judaism in a way that feels accessible and comfortable. And writing about kids saving the day is one of my favorite storylines.

 

Q: What do you hope kids take away from the story?

 

A: I hope kids take away the importance of family and how food brings communities together!

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I'm working on the sequel to Fortune Tellers, which comes out May 7! The sequel will be out in May 2025.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Every morning as I drop my kids off at school, I tell them "be good, be kind, be useful." I took this from a saying the Obamas used with their girls and I think it's a good instruction for all of us. :)

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Christina Bacilieri

 

 

 

Christina Bacilieri is the author of the new young adult novel The Last Refuge. She lives in Texas.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Last Refuge, and how did you create your character Kiera?

 

A: Stories have always helped me make sense of the world. I began writing this one at a particularly tumultuous time in my life. I’d recently found out my grandmother’s cancer had returned. She is the one who gifted me with my love of story, and without her support, I wouldn’t have had the courage to pick up a pen.

 

I often believe that our darkest times are when we need magic the most. I was inspired by a dream I had where I watched Kiera cross over the border into Etabon and transform into her magical form. It sparked the concept of a world where the beings were many different types of creatures cut off from their magic.

 

At its core, The Last Refuge explores the idea of who we would become if we gave ourselves a chance to look.

 

I wrote Kiera for my younger self; she is the type of protagonist I wish I’d read more of growing up. Much of her personality is fictitious, but I did borrow pieces from the heroes in my life to instill in her. She is a character that holds space for both fierceness and compassion.

 

I wanted to portray a protagonist who is dealing with the struggle of masking who she is to fit into a broken system. Kiera embodies the idea of coming home to your authentic self.

 

Q: How did you come up with the idea for the world of Etabon?

 

A: The genres that influenced me the most growing up were dystopian and fantasy, so it felt natural to create my own dystopian fantasy world with forbidden magic.

 

As a kid, I was captivated by narratives like The Chronicles of Narnia. The idea of crossing into a magical realm is so compelling to me. I wanted the festival grounds of Etabon to hold all of that magic and wonder but with a transformational component.

 

A person’s connection to their magic is unique, meaning when they cross the border into Etabon and transform their magical form speaks to their character on a deeper level.

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book called it a “suspenseful adventure that will engage readers to the final page.” What do you think of that description, and did you know how the story would end before you started writing it?

 

A: I was incredibly honored by Kirkus’s assessment of The Last Refuge. It perfectly encapsulates the experience I set out to create for the reader: a thrilling journey alongside Kiera into a magical world full of high-stakes bargains and supernatural danger.

 

Regarding the ending, I’d had the image of elks and a harrowing race through a moonlit forest in my mind since the beginning, but many aspects of how the characters end up there developed as I wrote the story.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: The Last Refuge speaks to the universal quest for belonging that we all go on. I hope my readers take away a sense of connection from the book. My goal is to transport them to a world where they can escape into the intricate worldbuilding and twists and turns of Kiera's journey.

 

Books have always provided a safe place for me to find myself, and I want to create a similar space for readers where they’re free to dream and feel seen in these characters and their adventures.

 

Q: This is the first in a series--can you tell us what’s next?

 

A: Yes, I’m working on book two in the trilogy now. It will focus on the choices Kiera will be forced to make and the internal battle of light and dark within herself. She’ll unravel secrets about her past and her future.

 

To save the ones she loves, Kiera will not only have to call upon her magic like never before, but she must rely on the bonds that she'll forge throughout her upcoming trials.

 

There’s a darkness growing within the borders of Etabon, and if it's unleashed upon Kiera's world... not even the deepest love or strongest magic will set the scales of light and dark to rights again.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: For updates on my writing journey and upcoming books, you can find me on Instagram @christinabacilieri, TikTok @christinabacilieriauthor, and at my website https://www.christinabacilieri.com.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

April 28

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
April 28, 1926: Harper Lee born.

Q&A with Matthew Parker

 

 

 

Matthew Parker is the author of the new book One Fine Day: Britain's Empire on the Brink, September 29, 1923. His other books include Goldeneye. He lives in London.

 

Q: What inspired you to focus on September 29, 1923, in your new book?

 

A: It was on this day that the Palestine Mandate became law and the British Empire reached what would turn out to be its maximum territorial extent - 14 million square miles – the largest empire in world history. It contained 460 million people, more than the populations of the United States, the Soviet Union and the French empire combined.

 

But unbeknownst to people at the time, it’s a turning point, the peak from which the only way was down. So, while charting the empire’s huge extent and power, I also look at the varied and fascinating factors – including the rise of Japan and the United States - that already point to the British empire’s rapid decline.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: I wanted to do something a bit different, so I focus on this one day, alighting on people and stories from contemporary newspapers, magazines, official documents, novels and much more.

 

So we discover a Rockefeller Foundation doctor, Sylvester Lambert, is in Tongo delivering hookworm medicines (and administering American soft power); Marcus Garvey has just been released on bail from a prison in New York; E.M. Forster is writing A Passage to India; Jawaharlal Nehru has just been arrested for the third time; George Orwell is working as a policeman in Burma in the middle of a crime wave; as well as many lesser known characters.

 

“One Day” was taken by a hit novel; “One Fine Day” sort of asks the question, was it? And, if so, fine for whom?

 

Q: A review of the book in The Guardian, by Christienna Fryar, says, “The choice to begin and end with Ocean Island works especially well, since it’s among the lesser-known tragedies explored.” Why did you choose Ocean Island as the starting and end point of the book?

A: Now part of Kiribati, Ocean Island – or Banaba – is close to the international date line so it is where the sun first rises on the empire, famously described as “where the sun never sets” (or, from another point of view, “where the blood never dries.”)

 

My method was to take the reader with the sun east to west around the globe. At the end, we return to Ocean Island to see what happens there subsequently.

 

The Ocean Island story also sets up many of the themes of the book. Because its soil is almost pure phosphate, a valuable ingredient of fertiliser, the actual physical body of the island is being shipped away, to the dismay of the island’s inhabitants. It is extractive colonialism at its most literal.

 

All the time, the British colonial officials, charged with protecting the inhabitants, are torn between their integrity and their careers. Across the empire, we see even well-meaning British officials causing more harm than good.

 

Q: As you said, One Fine Day covers the globe--how did you research the book, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: It did take an enormous amount of research, hence why the book took nearly eight years to put together!

 

For various reasons including Covid, expense and safety, I wasn’t able to travel everywhere I wrote about, so I employed researchers in New Zealand, Australia, Myanmar, Kenya, Nigeria and the Caribbean. They were for the most part university history teachers, familiar with their archives and able to give me valuable input on the local take on this history.

 

One of my most striking discoveries was the huge importance of the psychological aspect of colonialism.

 

Norman Manley, later the leader of the Jamaican independence movement, was fond of quoting a British official who admitted: “The British empire and British rule depends on a carefully nurtured sense of inferiority in the governed.”

 

The flip side of this is “white prestige,” an “invisible armour” more important than any guns or ships. But the “sense of inferiority” was fading fast, just as the British confidence in their imperial mission was crumbling.

 

One of the stories I tell is of Adelaide Casey Hayford, born in Sierra Leone but raised in Britain. She is opening a Technical School for Girls in Freetown, with a mission to teach pride in race and African art and culture, a million miles away from the Government schools where African children had to learn the Kings and Queens of England. To raise money for the school, she travelled around the United States.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m busy promoting the book. This has recently involved a trip to the Jaipur Literature Festival in India, where I learnt so much! In particular, reassessing their history, Indians have little affection for the British.

 

This seems part of a world-wide shift, where countries previously part of the British empire are leaving the Commonwealth, getting rid of King Charles from their constitutions, and seeking reparations for slavery and colonialism. No one wants to fund the Commonwealth Games!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: On a happier note, I’ve just heard that the exiled Ocean Islanders have got hold of copies of my book, and are delighted that their story is being told for the first time in a general history.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Jason Bell

 

Photo by Robert Blanchard

 

Jason Bell is the author of the new book Cracking the Nazi Code. He is a professor of philosophy at the University of New Brunswick, and he lives in New Brunswick, Canada.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Cracking the Nazi Code?

 

A: In 2008, I made an extremely lucky find in a German library that led me to the book’s real-life hero, Winthrop Bell, who was a Canadian-British spy in 1919.

 

Though I was originally interested in Bell as a philosopher, I was inspired to write about his hidden role in history after seeing the light his intel shines on the secret origin of World War II.

 

I was originally looking in the German archives for a missing link between the philosophical schools of pragmatism and phenomenology. I found a century-old dissertation explaining the connection, which was an amazing philosophical find, but it was missing two pages.

 

I soon learned that the collected papers of the author, Dr. Winthrop Bell, are housed in New Brunswick, Canada, at Mount Allison University. For a reason that wasn’t known to me at the time, they were being held under restriction. I asked for the papers to be opened, and the authorities agreed.

 

I soon learned that the papers had been classified as secret because Bell had been a spy for the British and Canadian governments in Germany after World War I. Remarkably, he was the first to warn the West about Nazi plans for World War II, in 1919.

 

Two decades later, in the spring of 1939, he read Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and speeches by leading Nazis, and warned his intelligence contacts about the Nazis’ plan for worldwide genocide against the Jews and other races. Later in 1939, his alert was published in the Canadian newspaper Saturday Night—three years before the next known warning in English-language newspapers.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: I began researching the book by spending two years at the Bell papers at Mount Allison University. Though my initial focus was his philosophical writings, I also read through his voluminous notes from his espionage career, and realized it was a story that needed to be told. I made additional research visits to archives in the United Kingdom, where other of Bell’s declassified papers are held.

 

In the course of my research, I was surprised to learn just how much British intelligence heard about antisemitic plots in Germany, even before Hitler became a leader in the movement.

 

Besides Bell’s reports, news ran in British newspapers in early 1918 about plans for Germany’s secret Weltkrieg--World War--that would begin against Jews on the same day the Great War ended. I was astounded to learn that November 11, 1918 wasn’t just Armistice Day—it was also the first day of World War II. 

 

Q: The writer Rosemary Sullivan said of the book, “Brilliantly researched, Cracking the Nazi Code upends our conventional, often inaccurate, understanding of the Nazis’ rise to power after WWI.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: Rosemary Sullivan is pointing to inaccuracies in a widely believed portrait of Hitler as creating Nazism from nothing, then building it into a world-threatening power, virtually single-handedly.

 

Bell’s declassified intel shows that months before Hitler was a junior leader in the movement, Nazism was already in full swing. By the fall of 1919, Bell warned, the Nazis were in a position to take over Germany any time they wanted. The führer’s ascendency to national power happened because of enormous behind-the-scenes support from powerful racist groups.  

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: Readers will gain a more accurate understanding of the birth of Nazism. This newly revealed intel history can help us be more scientific in defeating resurgent antisemitism today.

 

Bell’s spy career shows a period of weakness in the gestational period of racist extremism. He had a brilliant plan for defeating the Nazis by 1920—Germany’s economy would be rehabilitated so that dangerous young men could get jobs and become productive citizens rather than terrorists.

 

Tragically, the plan wasn’t adopted by British authorities at the time.  Yet, after World War II, Bell’s plan provided intellectual foundations for the Marshall Plan. Readers will see how this approach can help make peace postwar in places like Ukraine, Russia, and the Middle East in our own day.  

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am writing a book about a daring, successful and virtually unknown World War II Allied secret mission that was designed to trick Hitler into thinking the D-Day invasion would happen in the Balkans, not France. Like Winthrop Bell’s story, this research draws upon research from recently declassified documents.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Despite the coincidence in surname, Winthrop and I are not family relations. 

 

But in philosophy we are twins, given our rare interest in relations between pragmatism and phenomenology.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Malia C. Lazu

 

 

 

Malia C. Lazu is the author of the new book From Intention to Impact: A Practical Guide to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She is a lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

 

Q: What inspired you to write From Intention to Impact?

 

A: Throughout my professional life – as a community organizer, bank president, business owner, and now a DEI consultant – I have worked to level the playing field and empower individuals and communities.

 

I have seen first-hand what it takes to make a real impact – both in terms of promoting racial equity and improving competitiveness, innovation, effectiveness, and profitability.

That’s the premise of my book, From Intention to Impact: A Practical Guide to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The value to be captured through diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is not just economic, but also social and cultural.

My book also acknowledges the significant challenges to DEI today, particularly in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative in college admission policies, which has set off another ripple effect of “anti-woke” pushback and state laws that undermine and eliminate DEI programs. Nonetheless, we keep fighting the good fight.

DEI is my purpose, passion, and mission – to ensure that everyone has a fair and equitable chance to advance themselves, their families, and their communities.

Q: What do you think are some of the most common perceptions and
misconceptions about DEI?

 

A: One of the most common misconceptions about DEI is that it is “charity,” rather than a real value add. So let me state this clearly: DEI is not an act of charity. It is actually good for business, for organizations, for communities, for good governance (and governments!), and for society in general.

Fortunately, there is ample research out there that corroborates the value of DEI. It’s a perception–and a fact.

 

For example, in a 2020 report, Citibank estimated that if four key gaps experienced by Blacks – in wages, education, housing, and investment – had been closed 20 years ago, the U.S. economy would have reaped
more than $16 trillion in additional growth over that time.

 

If those same gaps were closed now, U.S. GDP would see a $5 trillion increase over the next five years.

 

Or consider the findings of consulting firm McKinsey: that closing the racial wealth gap would result in U.S. GDP being 4-6 percent higher by 2028 – in other words, more economic opportunity for all.

 

To capture this value, systemic racism must be rooted out from every institution across education, healthcare, criminal justice, cultural, sports and entertainment, and businesses in every economic sector.

Q: What do you see looking ahead when it comes to DEI initiatives?

 

A: DEI cannot be performative – the superficial “window dressing” and “lip service” that does not lead to a positive impact. The real work in DEI that needs to be done is identifying and confronting biases (conscious and unconscious), rooting out antiracism, and taking reparative actions.

Within businesses, this means addressing racial pay gaps and making commitments to advancement and succession planning that includes people of color. It takes policy changes and a review of hiring practices to ensure the talent pipeline includes highly qualified people of color and other underrepresented employees.

Within communities and governments, this means ensuring that everyone truly does have a voice to be heard.

 

For example, in real estate development, DEI means listening to the local community–to what residents and small business owners in and around the development want and need. This will transform development from displacement to inclusion and community-building.

At the same time, we need to be realistic. The “anti-woke” campaigns and pushback against DEI means the status quo is becoming entrenched. In businesses, white managers too often try to preserve their status by resisting DEI policies. We see this in the anti-woke and anti-DEI laws being passed by states, as well.

As I look ahead, I see a real need for businesses, politicians, policymakers, thought leaders, and community organizers to find ways to navigate these waters and keep pressing for meaningful change.

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: For readers, the biggest takeaways are what I call the 3Ls: Listen, Learn and Love.

● Listen – On their own, people must engage in listening to develop their understanding. So much content has been created by BIPOC communities to help others understand what people of color are feeling and asking for.

 

By listening, people can better understand where different communities are coming from. Listening also helps people avoid faux pas in speaking and interacting with others. Listening is where it all begins!

● Learn – Once people have spent some time listening, they have prepared themselves to learn in a respectful and informed way. They can begin to interact with others to learn in real time how to be an ally.

 

Good learning looks like assuming the person you are learning from has something to teach you–and asking questions with respectful curiosity.

 

Here’s a simple example: be mindful of the holidays and commemorations celebrated by other cultures. (My firm, The Lazu Group, has actually developed a CULTURL Awareness Calendar to help people do exactly that!)

 

With curiosity–not judgment–ask questions about what that holiday means to someone. How do they observe it? What are their traditions? When someone has a genuine desire to learn, people will be happy to explain.

● Love – Taking loving action means to be open, accepting, and respectful of others. It means becoming an ally, with an understanding of what BIPOC people have to go through every day in a white-centric world.

 

It means to stand for change in the status quo–and confronting and changing biases (we all have them) in order to ensure that everyone is included. In short, to be loving is to be authentic and to care for others.

Q: What are you working on now? 

 

A: Spreading the word! Through my book, I’ve been fortunate to make new connections with people and organizations that, like me, are on the front lines of continuing to push for DEI. I'm also working on a DEI field class for Sloan I hope will launch this fall.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: Just one final message: There is more opportunity to be found and more money to be made by being inclusive. After all, the best way to make money these days is from ideas–and that means with diversity of thinking and fresh perspectives that result from becoming more inclusive of people of color. The pie grows, for you and for me.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb