Susan Dominus — The Family Dynamic: A Journey into the Mystery of Sibling Success - with Mark Leibovich

An Olympic athlete. An award-winning novelist. A successful entrepreneur. All raised under one roof. What can we learn from those families whose children aim high and succeed, sometimes in widely varied fields? Just as important: What were the costs along the way, and what can we glean from their travails and triumphs?The acclaimed New York Times journalist Susan Dominus offers compelling profiles of six such families in search of the factors that led to their success--was it an inherited quality, a specific way of parenting, the influence of a sibling, or a twist of luck? Inspired by the iconic Brontë sisters, whose remarkable literary success prompted endless speculation, Dominus, the mother of twin teenagers, sought out contemporary high-achieving families who shared intimate stories of their upbringing. She introduces us to the Chens, young parents who fled their country's one-child policy to open a Chinese restaurant in Appalachia--then sent four children to elite colleges and on to careers that give back in technology and medicine; the Groffs, whose claim to fame is not just an award-winning novelist but an Olympic athlete and a notable entrepreneur; the Wojcickis, whose daughters made inroads as STEM pioneers in Silicon Valley; and the Murguias, who rose from exceptionally humble origins to become powerful jurists and civil rights champions. Woven into these and other stories is an account of centuries of scientific research into the ongoing question of nature versus nurture.Elegantly written and extensively researched, The Family Dynamic is more than a checklist of how-to's. It's a deep and moving exploration of the complexity of family life and the rewards--and burdens--of ambition.PURCHASE BOOK HERE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780593137901?ic_referral=ue78GGIZxnGT9fieonb5GH5scXXRhYGh8jLPd-fAqIowM5BFOAPQmI1N6st42TN3Da3IaoB7AOwCa2Sdpo98587GC8xTmDMhJ8ag_xXRAsCa3VmXMEX5LNtZD0l3bGLN_beQwZ8Susan Dominus has worked for The New York Times since 2007, first as a Metro columnist and then as staff writer for The New York Times Magazine. In 2018, she was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for public service for its reporting on workplace sexual harassment. She won a Front Page Award from the Newswomen's Club of New York and a Mychal Judge Heart of New York Award from the New York Press Club. She has studied as a fellow at the National Institutes of Health and Yale Law School. Her article about menopause in The New York Times Magazine won a National Magazine Award in 2024. She teaches journalism at Yale University.Dominus is in conversation with Mark Leibovich. Leibovich is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of five books, including three New York Times best sellers, and two No. 1 Times best sellers, This Town (2013) and Thank You for Your Servitude (2022). He is the recipient of a National Magazine Award for profile writing. Before joining The Atlantic in 2022, he spent 16 years at The New York Times, based in Washington, serving as the chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine. Prior to that, he worked at The Washington Post, where he covered technology and national politics. He is also a political analyst for NBC and MSNBC.*recorded 6/22/2025