Being Polite to Hitler

After teaching and raising her family for most of her life, Agnes Scofield is tired of the routine. But how, at 51, can she establish an identity apart from what has so long defined her? Often eloquent, sometimes blunt, and always full of fire, the Scofield family is not one to keep its opinions quiet. As much as Agnes would like to, she can no more sidestep their adamant advice than she can step down as their matriarch. But, despite her reluctance to become even more entangled in the family web, Agnes is amazed to feel her life grow because of it.

In Being Polite to Hitler, Robb Forman Dew intricately details personal and family life in a moving, frank, and surprising portrait of post-World War II America.

Robb Forman Dew was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For the past thirty years she has lived in Williamstown, MA, where she lives with her husband, who is professor of history at Williams College. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Dew is the author of the novels Dale Loves Sophie to Death, for which she received the National Book Award; The Time of Her Life; Fortunate Lives; The Evidence Against Her; and, most recently, The Truth of the Matter; as well as a memoir, The Family Heart.