Biblio File

April Author @ the Library Programs by Elizabeth BaldwinApril 3, 2017

Join us this April for an Author @ the Library talk at Mid-Manhattan Library, where a curated selection of nonfiction authors will discuss their work and answer questions from the public.  This month, we will be hosting talks on everything from atlases and dictionaries to baseball and Bellevue.

Author talks take place at 6:30 PM on the 6th floor of the library, unless otherwise noted. No reservations are required. Seating is first come, first served. You can also request a library copy of the authors' books by using the catalog links below.

Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital

 

Monday, April 3, 2017

Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital with David Oshinsky, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, professor in the NYU Department of History, and director of Medical Humanities at the NYU School of Medicine.

This illustrated lecture chronicles the riveting history of New York's iconic public hospital and America's oldest hospital. It charts the turbulent rise of American medicine, the path from butchery and quackery to a professional and scientific endeavor, and the rise of New York to the nation's preeminent city. 
How Running Away Brought Me Home

 

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

My (Part-Time) Paris Life: How Running Away Brought Me Home with Lisa Anselmo, a writer and creative director.

This illustrated lecture explores one woman’s search for peace and meaning, and how the ups and downs of expat life in Paris taught her to let go of fear, find self-worth, and create real, lasting happiness. 
A Feminist Manifesto

 

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto with Jessa Crispin, writer, editor, and author of The Dead Ladies Project, and Madeleine Davies, senior writer at Jezebel.

This conversation highlights issues in contemporary feminism, calling for a radical reexamination of the movement. 
The True Causes of Mass Incarceration - and How to Achieve Real Reform

 

Monday, April 10, 2017

Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration—and How to Achieve Real Reform with John Pfaff, Professor of Law at Fordham Law School.

This illustrated lecture is a groundbreaking examination of our system of imprisonment, revealing the true causes of mass incarceration as well as the best path to reform. 
True Tales and Lost Moments from Book Buyers, Booksellers, and Book Lovers

 

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Footnotes from the World's Greatest Bookstores with Bob Eckstein, an award-winning illustrator, writer, New Yorker cartoonist, snowman expert, and author of The History of the Snowman.

This illustrated lecture captures our lifelong love affair with books, bookstores, and book-sellers and features evocative paintings and colorful anecdotes about the local bookshop, each with its own quirks, charms, and legendary stories. 
Is the Dictionary Dead?

 

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Is the Dictionary Dead? (The past, present, and future of defining English) with Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster and Ammon Shea, digital content editor at Merriam-Webster.

The representatives of Merriam-Webster present a talk on the challenges and changes in current lexicography, and on what the data from a digital book can tell us about the role that the dictionary plays in the lives of today’s word-searchers. 
An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders

 

Monday, April 17, 2017

Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders with Dylan Thuras, cofounder and creative director of Atlas Obscura, and Ella Morton, associate editor of AtlasObscura.com.

This illustrated lecture celebrates the strangest and most curious places in the world. 
1939-1962

 

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Eleanor Roosevelt, The War Years and After, 1939-1962 with Blanche Wiesen Cook, a distinguished professor of history at John Jay College and Graduate Center, City University of New York.

This lecture explores the life of the first lady, looking through the window of 1939 – 1962, carrying the audience through WWII, the death of FDR, and the formation of the UN, as well as Eleanor’s continued work to mend the shaken nation up until her death in 1962. 
Truths About America's Lingua Franca

 

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Talking Back, Talking Black: Truths About America's Lingua Franca with John McWhorter, an American academic and linguist who is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.

This lecture, devoted to the form, structure, and development of Black English, explores its fundamentals and rich history, while carefully examining the cultural, educational, and political issues that have undermined recognition of this transformative, empowering dialect. 
Dismantling the Dream

 

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Abandoned America: Dismantling The Dream with Matthew Christopher, photographer and writer.

This illustrated lecture explores the quiet catastrophes dotting American cities, examining the losses and failures that led these ruins to become forsaken by communities that once embraced them. 
Petrograd, Russia, 1917 - A World on the Edge

 

Monday, April 24, 2017

Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, Russia, 1917 - A World on the Edge with Helen Rappaport, historian and the New York Times bestselling author of The Romanov Sisters.

This illustrated lecture spotlights the outbreak of the Russian Revolution through eye-witness accounts left by foreign nationals who saw the drama unfold. During 1917 Petrograd was turned into a 'red madhouse' as diplomats, military attaches, governesses, journalists, businessmen and nurses watched history being made in the war-torn capital.
The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber and the Invention of Criminal Profiling

 

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Incendiary: The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber, and the Invention of Criminal Profiling with Michael Cannell, author of The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit and I.M. Pei: Mandarin of Modernism.

This illustrated lecture recounts the story of a serial bomber who stalked the streets of 1950s New York and how the race to catch him gave birth to a new science called criminal profiling. 
How the 1960s Collided with the National Pastime

 

Thursday, April 27, 2017

One Nation Under Baseball: How the 1960s Collided with the National Pastime with John Florio, freelance writer and novelist, and Ouisie Shapiro, Emmy-winning writer and producer of sport documentaries.

This illustrated lecture highlights the intersection between American society and America’s pastime during the 1960s, when the hallmarks of the sport—fairness, competition, and mythology—came under scrutiny.

As always, we have many interesting and informative films, book discussions, and computer and technology classes on our program calendar. If you enjoy sitting back and listening to a good story, try our Story Time for Grown-ups, where we'll be reading Planet Earth themed stories. If you like to share your literary discoveries with other readers and don't mind getting a little emotional, join us on Friday, April 14, for Open Book Night, where we'll be sharing books that make us cry.  If you'd prefer a book discussion group, we hold a monthly Contemporary Classics Book Discussion. This month's book is March by Geraldine Brooks. We are also excited to continue our new series at the library called Mid-Sentence: Writers in Conversation.  The next Mid-Sentence event on April 21 will feature Sarah Gerard and Amber Tamblyn.

All of our programs and classes are free, so why not come and check one out? Hope to see you soon at the library!

View all posts by Elizabeth Baldwin