Adweek’s Klara Debuts History Book

Robert Klara writes about the history of advertising in our pages—in fact, he authors the Perspective department each week. But Klara also writes about American history in his new book The Hidden White House (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press). This time around, his subject is the postwar restoration of the White House, which was falling into such disrepair that bathtubs and pianos threatened to fall through the floors. It’s a story of government fights over spending, Cold War paranoia and sad screwups wrought by incompetence and rushed work—all part of this country’s distant past, of course.