Summary

In her initial note, Smarsh describes how she wrote the book “over the course of fifteen years” (ix), using both family records and public records for her research. She describes drawing upon her own memories and experiences, and utilizing “points on United States and world history, politics, public policy, and other matters beyond the private experience” (ix). She also comments on how this latter source of material was gleaned through research and is considered, in the book, from her own journalistic perspective. She also comments that “in a small number of instances, I have changed or omitted the names of living people” (ix).

In “Dear August,” the author writes in second-person narration as she addresses “you,” a person whose identity is at first not defined and who at this point might be the reader. She begins by describing how she...