![Conversations at the Washington Library show](https://d3dthqtvwic6y7.cloudfront.net/podcast-covers/000/085/313/small/conversations-at-the-washington-library.jpg)
Summary: Fergus M. Bordewich has been an independent historian and writer since the early 1970s. As a journalist he traveled extensively in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa writing on a variety of topics. He also served for brief periods as an editor and writer for the Tehran Journal in Iran in 1972-1973, a press officer for the United Nations in 1980-1982, and an advisor to the New China News Agency in Beijing in 1982-1983. In this episode he discusses his book "The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government." He spoke at a Ford Evening Book Talk at the Washington Library on June 9, 2016.