The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government

Barbara McQuade comes to Congregation Emanu El on Thursday, October 22, to talk about her new book, The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government. The Progressive Forum is presenting, and McQuade will be in conversation with Randall Morton, the forum's executive director. If you're coming, there's a free copy of the book waiting for you at the Blue Willow Bookshop table in the lobby.

McQuade has spent decades inside the federal legal system, and The Fix is her take on what's gone wrong. She argues that organized crime and political opportunism have found a way to work the levers of power, and she spends the book outlining common-sense reforms to get the rule of law back on track and put democracy back at the center. It's the kind of thing that's usually discussed in the abstract, but she's coming at it from the perspective of someone who's actually worked the cases.

That background is a big part of why she's in the room. McQuade is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School—her alma mater—where she teaches criminal law, criminal procedure, national security, and data privacy. She's a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, and she co-hosts the SistersInLaw podcast. From 2010 to 2017, she served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, appointed by President Barack Obama; she was the first woman to hold that post. She also wrote the national bestseller Attack from Within.

The talk is on Thursday, October 22, starting at 7:30 PM, with theater doors opening at 6:30 PM. Congregation Emanu El is at 1500 Sunset Blvd., right across from Rice University. Tickets are $154, $75, and $49 plus fees.