Boston Book Festival

History is made by people, and the two memoirs covered here tell the story of an era through the personalities involved. Doris Kearns Goodwin’s husband, Richard Goodwin, was a White House aide and speechwriter to JFK and RFK, deputy assistant secretary of state, and director of the International Peace Corps during the turbulent 60’s. The author herself worked with Lyndon Johnson on writing his memoirs. The hope and idealism of the period, the shattered dreams and lives, the turmoil, and the love story of the author and her beloved husband, are encapsulated in her bestselling memoir, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960’s. Journalist Charles Trueheart relates the story of the rupture between two diplomats, one his father and the other his godfather, who were both present at a pivotal moment in the diplomatic history of the Vietnam War, in Diplomats at War: Friendship and Betrayal on the Brink of the Vietnam Conflict, which the Washington Post calls both “riveting and revelatory.” The discussion will be moderated by Linda Henry, co-owner and CEO of Boston Globe Media.