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Literary Notes: ‘A Moment in Time’ historian will meet and greet at W&M bookstore

Dan Roberts has a sprawling career as an Army officer in Vietnam, a Presbyterian minister, a historian (doctorate, U.Va.) and administrator at the University of Richmond, and a jazz pianist. He also hosts the public radio show “A Moment in Time.” And he writes books.

His latest is “Master Presidential History in 1 Minute a Day,” and – heads up – he’ll be in Williamsburg in a couple weeks to meet readers and sign copies. The book (Workman, 304 pp.) is not simply a collection of trivia; it’s a readable narrative that seeks to distill crucial aspects of each president’s term and to offer other resources for reading (Roberts’ own website).

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The details: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 18. William and Mary Bookstore, Merchants Square, 345 Duke of Gloucester St. 757-221-1651.

If ya won’t wear a mask, how ‘bout one of these? Book-themed face masks are in the works at OutOfPrint.com, noted Shelf Awareness.

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Some Norfolk libraries reopen Tuesday: The Jordan-Newby, Pretlow and Slover anchor branches will have limited hours and services; masks and distancing are required. Details: Norfolk.gov.

Update: Mary Trump book. Tuesday, a New York Supreme Court judge granted a temporary restraining order against her book. (“Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man” is due July 28. She is a clinical psychologist; her father, Fred Trump Jr.) Wednesday, an appellate judge said Simon & Schuster can go ahead with the book. This judge said S&S wasn’t a party to a confidentiality agreement that Mary Trump signed a couple decades ago — in a struggle over the will of Fred Trump Sr. — and thus can’t be bound by it. However, as of Thursday the restraining order against Mary Trump herself remained, and Robert Trump — her uncle, and President Trump’s brother – is expected to continue his effort against publication. The book is printed, and thousands have shipped. (Washington Post, New York Times)

John Bolton, again: “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir” sold more than 780,000 copies its first week. That U.S. number includes unfulfilled orders, said Simon & Schuster — “unusual for a ‘sales’ tabulation,” said Publishers Lunch. S&S plans an 11th printing, for a total of 1 million in print.

Beacon Press’ extensive list of books on race and racism has given it a surge in sales. The indie Boston publisher “has a number of books that have sold more copies in two weeks than they did in the last year,” with “White Fragility” at the top, its director told Publishers Weekly. (Beacon published the coming-of-age memoir of the late Rashod Ollison, a black, gay man who was The Pilot’s culture critic, in 2016, as well as The Pentagon Papers.)

You Saw It Coming Dept.: From Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former press secretary to President Trump, “Speaking for Myself: Faith, Freedom, and the Fight of Our Lives Inside the Trump White House,” due in September.

Obituaries: Rudolfo Anaya, who wrote the classic novel “Bless Me, Ultima” and who was revered as the dean of Chicano literature, was 82. Among his honors: the National Humanities Medal, in 2016. ... Charles Webb, whose novel “The Graduate” was the basis for the hit film, was 81. He and his wife shunned their wealth and lived in poverty. (LA. Times, New York Times)

New and recent

“Night of the Assassins: The Untold Story of Hitler’s Plot to Kill FDR, Churchill, and Stalin” by Howard Blum. Blum tells a tale of 1943 Iran, where the three world allied leaders were meeting. FDR’s top Secret Service man, a guy named Mike Reilly, listened to his suspicions and reached out to a Soviet agent from the NKVD (precursor to the KGB). They had six days to head off a team of Nazi commandos’ Operation Long Jump. (Harper, 384 pp.)

—Erica J. Smith, erica.smith@pilotonline.com

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