An American and Her Novel

I have known Linda Chavez for many years, and have read her for even longer. Do you know I had a hard time introducing her? I really did. This is what I wound up saying: ... our guest is Linda Chavez—whose life has been so multifaceted, it takes a while to sum up. She has held several governmental positions. She ran for the U.S. Senate. She is the founder and chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity . She is the vice-chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative . She is a policy analyst. A columnist. A book-author. Her autobiography, An Unlikely Conservative , is outstanding. She has now written a novel: The Silver Candlesticks . It has a subtitle: A Novel of the Spanish Inquisition . The Silver Candlesticks tells the story of the author’s family—her father’s side. A fascinating story it is. That family has been in the United States—or what became the United States—for many, many years. How many? Well, Linda puts it this way: By the time the colonists got around to signing the Declaration of Independence, her family had been here for almost 200 years. Beat that , as Bill Buckley would say. So, is Linda Chavez a “Heritage American,” to use the new nativist jargon? She is an American, and she loves this country’s heritage: the principles and ideals embodied in our founding. She has spent a lot of time on the issue of immigration, and we discuss it a bit in our Q&A . We also discuss the phrase “equal opportunity”—as in the name of her organization, the Center for Equal Opportunity. She is eloquent on that phrase, that concept, as on everything else. At the end of our podcast, I ask her an embarrassing question—but not so embarrassing that I don’t ask it. It is a question that has been asked in every generation: “Are we losing America?” We never have. But—is some worry in order? Linda is, again, darn eloquent. Every time she talks, it’s like a civics lesson. I will now stop typing so you can listen to her. Q&A is the podcast of this site, Onward and Upward . The site is supported by readers and listeners. To receive new articles and episodes—and to support the work of the writer and podcaster—become a free or paid subscriber. Great thanks. Get full access to Onward and Upward at

You can listen to An American and Her Novel online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

An American and Her Novel is an episode from Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger by The Ricochet Audio Network.

This episode is 28:30 long.

This episode was published on Jan 9, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.