Mark Esper’s memoir of his time as Donald Trump’s Army secretary and fifth defense secretary — ending in his firing by tweet after the 2020 election — is on for May.
The Pentagon has reversed itself on redacting most of what it had deemed classified, said his attorney, Mark S. Zaid, and Esper dropped his lawsuit. That suit (November) said the Pentagon had “unlawfully imposed a prior restraint” by “delaying, obstructing and infringing” on his right to publish his unclassified manuscript. DOD’s cut of 50-plus pages from “A Sacred Oath,” Zaid said, “gutted substantive content and important story lines.” Other former officials also have fought prepublication restrictions on their writing about their time in the Trump administration, especially about private interactions with Trump.
The Wall Street Journal noted that “some former officials and government-transparency activists have long argued that the system is too broad and cumbersome, results in unreasonable publication delays or overzealous redactions and is unevenly applied.” Several groups have petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn a 1980 ruling that created the standards. (NYT, WSJ)
___
Raymond Harper — a longtime area historian who focused on Chesapeake; South Norfolk and Norfolk County (which merged to form Chesapeake in 1963); and Colonna’s Shipyard — died Feb. 2. He was 93, his obituary said. He wrote more than 13 books, including a three-volume history of South Norfolk since 1661 from The History Press; he also wrote “According to Harper,” a column for The Clipper, a Virginian-Pilot section for Chesapeake readers. Have a look: online, his columns on the roots of the Great Bridge Bridge (1770 at the latest); the momentous Battle of Great Bridge; and the origins of South Norfolk.
Other lives to admire (obituary notes): Jason Epstein was 93. He was a prominent editor of major authors; he proposed making costly hardbound classics available as inexpensive paperbacks, a first (1953), and the Library of America series of classics (1982). When a strike shut seven New York newspapers in 1962-63, he proposed an independent section to fill the gap left by The New York Times Book Review. The first issue of The New York Review of Books included a piece by Newport News’ William Styron. … Ashley Bryan — “a celebrated children’s author whose joyous, vividly illustrated picture books pulsed with the rhythms of modern poetry, African folk tales and Black American spirituals” — was 98. Said Jason Reynolds, the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature: Bryan also “had this way about him as a person that made it feel inclusive to every kid. That we could celebrate Black children and the history and legacy of Black Americans in this country, and that it was something for all of us to celebrate.” (NYT, Washington Post)
___
New and recent
Martha Beck’s “The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self” is Oprah’s new book club pick. It shows how “to recognize what we actually yearn for versus what our culture sells us,” the publisher says.
From Dick Carlsen of Virginia Beach, “Revenge in Monkey Bottom,” his fifth novel (AuthorHouse, 256 pp.). It’s the sequel to “Monkey Bottom,” a Norfolk-based tale in which an officer is forced out of the Navy over an affair that also leads to a murder and a fatal accident. In the sequel, he’s moved away in disgrace but returns as a civilian to help get a liquor contract for a prospective casino, and is targeted by revenge seekers.
— Erica Smith, erica.smith@pilotonline.com
