Updegrove is the author of Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House (The Lyons Press, October 2006).  A former publisher of Newsweek, the Los Angeles manager of Time, and president of Time Canada, Updegrove conducted interviews with several former presidents, first ladies and their children, former Vice President Walter Mondale and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, White House staff members, and others in Washington’s inner circle.  He also researched more than 150 books, newspaper and magazine articles by former White House occupants, intimates, biographers, and journalists, video archives and presidential speeches to produce this intimate and microscopic insight into what the Library Journal described as “engrossing” and “highly recommended” and what The Washington Post called “entertaining and illuminating.”  

According to Monroe College Academic Dean Karenann Carty, the Distinguished Speakers Series was inspired by “The Evolution of the American Presidency”, a core course of the college’s Honors Program. “I heard Mr. Updegrove interviewed on National Public Radio in November, got his book, and extended the invitation to launch what will be an ongoing series,” she said, adding that the Honors Program is also offering students a course on the Holocaust this semester.  “Mr. Updegrove’s visit to Monroe College has become even timelier with the release of President Carter’s controversial new book on Palestine and the death of President Ford.”  Updegrove’s expertise was cited in Washington Post news articles about both of these events.

Updegrove will autograph copies of his book, which will be for sale following his presentation at the New Rochelle Public Library.  Reservations are not required but seating is limited.  For more information on the Mark Updegrove appearance or future speakers in the series and Monroe College’s Honors Program, call 914-740-6414.