Q&A with Ken Fireman

 

 

Ken Fireman is the author of the novel The Unmooring. A longtime journalist, he lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Unmooring, and how did you create your character Michael?

 

A: I wanted to write a political novel, and set it in a hinge era, one that changed America and the world. That was certainly true of the ‘60s. It was also an era of great drama – there were times when momentous events piled on top of each other so rapidly, it was hard to fully grasp them.

 

Additionally, I have a personal connection to the era: I lived through it, took part in some of its important events, was shaped by all of them. So I thought it had the elements of a good story, and an important one.

 

In Michael McMaster, I wanted to fashion a character who fit the temper of the times. Someone who rebelled against his parents and their milieu, who struck out on his own. Who was idealistic, hopeful about changing a world he hadn’t made and didn’t particularly like – but finds his optimism challenged by the discord of American life, and the discord in his own life.

 

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

 

A: I chose it because it has a double meaning, and both are central to the novel’s story. The first was that during the ‘60s our country became unmoored, cut loose from fixed certainties and institutions, set adrift and buffeted by random forces. The second was that the McMaster family, the four characters at the heart of the novel, all become unmoored in their personal lives.

 

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

 

A: I had a clear idea of the general shape of the story arc, and how it would end, at the start of the writing process. But characters take on a life of their own, and charge off in a direction that you didn’t anticipate. They don’t always behave themselves! And that did happen in a way that affected one aspect of the story’s ending.

 

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

 

A: I hope two things come across, and both are hopeful things.

 

The first is that while we often see our current moment, with all its traumas and uncertainties, as unique, and uniquely ominous, it’s not. The ‘60s was a period much like today, with upheavals and dangers and violence – a lot of violence – and we got through it, we survived as a society, and maybe even arrived at a better place. We should keep that in mind today as we navigate all our anxieties.

 

The second is that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things. The battle for civil rights, for example, had its famous leaders and heroes – Martin Luther King, John Lewis – but what really made the difference was the willingness of so many people who weren’t famous to show up, get involved, take risks, put themselves on the line. And that can happen again – in fact, it is happening again.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on another novel, also a political novel but set in the present. The central character is someone who believes in the idea of public service, of acquiring expertise and putting it to use for the public good, but becomes caught in the crossfires of rancor and vitriol and bad faith that so often dominate our political discourse, and has to find a way to survive and function.

 

I hope it’ll make for a good story, and I hope it’ll make people think about where we want to go as a country.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I’ve started a Substack newsletter called Liticisms, which looks at the connection between books and contemporary concerns. 

 

The latest post talks about five books that serve as antidotes to the toxins of rage and polarization; another looks at how Trump uses rhetoric to justify the autocratic mentality. You can find them, and my other posts, here: https://liticisms.substack.com/. 

 

And thanks so much for interviewing me!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb