What are good book club discussion questions for American Scoundrel?

Spoiler-free questions to get the conversation going: Before you opened the book, what did the name Roy Cohn mean to you (a headline, a half-memory, a relative's offhand comment, or nothing at all)?; Where did you do most of your reading of this one, and did it need a particular setting (a quiet chair, daylight, something warm nearby) to sit comfortably with you?; This is a book about a man who collected powerful friends. Tell us about a time someone's introduction or phone call opened a door for you, and how that felt; Bird writes about a world where everything runs on favors owed. Did any part of that make you think warmly about your own circle of people who show up for each other, or did it mostly unsettle you?; Roy Cohn's parents loom over his story. What did the family material stir up for you about the expectations you grew up inside, gentle or otherwise?.

What food and drinks should I serve at a American Scoundrel book club?

Food: Warm pastrami sliders with pickles on the side, Baked ziti in one big dish, and Black and white cookies plus a plate of rugelach. Drinks: Hot spiced apple cider with cinnamon sticks, Egg creams (chocolate syrup, milk, seltzer), and A simple Manhattan, batched in a pitcher.

Cozy night

American ScoundrelBook club questions, food & host guide

Kai Bird with Susan Goldmark

A cozy book club night for American Scoundrel by Kai Bird with Susan Goldmark. Includes 8 spoiler-free discussion questions, food and drink pairings, a playlist, and a host guide, ready to print and share.

A club that loves a big meaty biography but wants to talk about it in soft chairs with second helpings

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Kai Bird, co-author of "American Prometheus," turns his biographer's eye on Roy Cohn, the lawyer and fixer whose fingerprints smudge a startling amount of twentieth century American life. It is a portrait so vivid and so full of contradictions that nobody leaves the room without an opinion.

Why it works for clubs

A life built almost entirely of relationships, which gives everyone something human to talk about
Raises gentle, personal questions about loyalty, ambition, and the people we excuse
Bird writes biography like storytelling, so the pages turn even for non-history readers
Familiar names and eras mean every reader brings a memory or a family story to the table

Themes & mood

American history power and persuasion moral complexity biography twentieth century

Browse all themes →

Reading level

Moderate

Warm-up questions

1 Before you opened the book, what did the name Roy Cohn mean to you (a headline, a half-memory, a relative's offhand comment, or nothing at all)?
2 Where did you do most of your reading of this one, and did it need a particular setting (a quiet chair, daylight, something warm nearby) to sit comfortably with you?

Digging in

1 This is a book about a man who collected powerful friends. Tell us about a time someone's introduction or phone call opened a door for you, and how that felt.
2 Bird writes about a world where everything runs on favors owed. Did any part of that make you think warmly about your own circle of people who show up for each other, or did it mostly unsettle you?
3 Roy Cohn's parents loom over his story. What did the family material stir up for you about the expectations you grew up inside, gentle or otherwise?
4 Was there a passage where you felt unexpected tenderness or pity toward a man you were fully prepared to dislike? Read us a few lines if you marked them.

Going deep

1 Bird and Goldmark spend years with a subject many people would rather not sit with. What do you think it costs a biographer to keep that much company with someone, and did you feel that cost in the writing?
2 Closing the book, what feeling were you left holding (sadness, anger, a strange sympathy, relief), and did it surprise you to find yourself feeling it?

On the table

Warm pastrami sliders with pickles on the side

A nod to mid-century New York delicatessen counters, the kind of lunch where deals got made, shrunk down to something passable around a coffee table.

Baked ziti in one big dish

Cohn's New York ran on long dinners in red-sauce rooms. A pan of ziti is the homey, forgiving version, and it feeds everyone without a seating chart.

Black and white cookies plus a plate of rugelach

Classic New York bakery comfort, and the black and white is an almost too perfect dessert for a book about a man of two sides.

To sip

Hot spiced apple cider with cinnamon sticks No alcohol

The non-alcoholic anchor of the night. Warm mugs keep the conversation soft even when the subject matter is not.

Egg creams (chocolate syrup, milk, seltzer) No alcohol

A genuine old New York soda fountain drink, fizzy and nostalgic, fun to make at the table and completely booze free.

A simple Manhattan, batched in a pitcher

The obvious period cocktail for a book this deep in New York power rooms. Batch it ahead so nobody is playing bartender all night.

Low and warm mid-century New York: brushed drums, soft piano, a little smoke in the room but the lamps are on.

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