DSM Book Festival Keynote with Alexis Coe

In partnership with the DSM Book Festival and Beaverdale Books, join the State Historical Society of Iowa at the Franklin Event Center for a keynote presentation featuring nationally acclaimed author, Alexis Coe.  The DSM Book Festival features nationally acclaimed authors, book club-style discussions led by featured commentators, lively panel discussions, hands-on activities, children’s programming, and more. Alexis Coe will be speaking at noon during the festival’s line-up of headline authors (check out the full festival line-up). Don’t miss this free, fun-filled festival, dedicated to books and booklovers.

Frenemies: How George Washington and the Founding Fathers Rallied Around a Cause—Until They Couldn’t
The founding fathers are often presented as a monolith, but in reality, they were anything but. A common enemy unified them, but once the British were defeated and a country to be run, the ideologically opposed, economically and geographically diverse group of white men came dangerously close to destroying the country–and each other. Washington, who was the only president to hold office without declaring a political party, directly contributed to the rise of partisanship. Join New York Times bestselling author and award-winning Presidential Historian Alexis Coe and learn why George Washington was estranged from Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe at the time of his death.

Author Biography
Alexis Coe is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling presidential historian and senior fellow at New America, a bi-partisan think tank. She’s the author of, most recently, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George of Washington. Her next book, Young Jack: A Biography of John F. Kennedy, 1917-1957, will be published in 2026, and her first book, Alice+Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis, debuted in 2014. Coe frequently appears on CNN, MSNBC, CBS, History, PBS, and other networks. She was a consulting producer on, and featured in, Doris Kearns Goodwin's Washington series on the History Channel. She has been featured in and written for most major publications, including the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Best American Essays.