Racing While Black: How an African-American Stock Car Team Made Its Mark on NASCAR

Leonard T. Miller

In the primarily white, Southern world of NASCAR, black drivers are extremely rare and black-owned teams nearly nonexistent. Yet Leonard T. Miller—son of the black motor racing pioneer Leonard W. Miller—has owned and run Miller Racing for more than 15 years. In 2005, Miller Racing became the first African-American team to win a track championship in NASCAR history, creating new opportunities for black drivers with their victory. In Racing While Black, Miller talks frankly about the realities of NASCAR culture and his dream of changing the way racing fans view skin color.

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required.

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife 

Francine Prose

Francine Prose is former president of the PEN American Center and author of more than 20 books. Her fictional critique of academia, Blue Angels, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and her nonfiction guide to writing, Reading Like a Writer, was a New York Times bestseller. In her new book, Prose considers Anne Frank’s diary as a work of art—revised many times by the author and meant for publication—and thoroughly investigates the book’s contentious afterlife. A review in the New York Times called it “an impressively far-reaching critical work, an elegant study both edifying and entertaining...full of keen observations and fascinating disputes.”

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a TICKETED event; $14 General Admission, $7 Students. Tickets on sale Friday, January 15 at 10:00 a.m. at freelibrary.org/authorevents or by phone at 1-800-595-4TIX (4849).

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

***POSTPONED***

 THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. 

CHECK BACK FOR INFORMATION ON POTENTIAL RESCHDULING.

The Principles of Uncertainty

Maira Kalman

Hear the illustrator, author, and designer speak about how she sees the world, both inside and outside of the studio. This lecture, and the booksigning that will follow, celebrates the Institute's ongoing exhibit, Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World) the first major museum survey of the work of Maira Kalman. An illustrator, author and designer, Kalman illuminates contemporary life with a profound sense of joy and unique sense of humor. Like a gift, her work appears to lift the spirits, no matter how ordinary or overwhelming circumstances may be. This exhibition features a selection spanning thirty years of original works on paper and design production, along with less widely seen aspects of Kalman's work in photography, embroidery, textiles, and performance. As a context for this survey, Kalman is creating a special installation. The space will be furnished with chairs, ladders, and "many tables of many things"—such as fezzes, bobby pins, balls of string, things that have fallen out of books, lists, moss. Expressive of Kalman's habits as a collector, traveler, reader, and avid walker, this installation offers a view of how she sees the world, both in and outside of the studio.

Institute of Contemporary Art

University of Pennsylvania
118 S. 36th Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, please click here

Canceled due to severe weather

Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century

Lee Bollinger

Lee Bollinger, President of Columbia University, is one of the nation’s foremost experts on the First Amendment. In his new book, Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century, Bollinger explores the troubled history of a free press in America and looks toward the challenges ahead. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press in seemingly clear terms. However, over the course of American history, Bollinger notes, the idea of freedom of the press has evolved, in response to social, political, technological, and legal changes. It was not until the twentieth century that freedom of the press came to be understood as guaranteeing an “uninhibited, robust, and wide-open” public discourse. But even during the twentieth century, the government has tried to erect barriers: the sedition laws of WWI, the use of libel law, the Pentagon Papers case, and efforts to limit press access to information. Bollinger sheds light on this history and explores the meaning of freedom of the press in our globalized, internet-dominated era.  Bill Marimow, editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, moderates.

Grand Hall Overlook 
National Constitution Center
Independence Mall
525 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA

This is a TICKETED event; admission is $9 for members, $15 for non-members, $7 for students & teachers, FREE for 1787 Society members. Reservations are required. Please call 215.409.6700, or click here

Canceled due to severe weather 

Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity  

James Hansen

The director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and a professor in Columbia University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Dr. James Hansen developed one of the world’s first climate models and was an advisor to Nobel Laureate Al Gore on An Inconvenient Truth. He frequently appears before Congress as an expert witness on environmental issues and was notoriously censured by the Bush administration for speaking out about the need to curtail carbon emissions. In Storms of My Grandchildren—his first book—Dr. Hansen clearly explains the science behind global warming and argues that politicians have failed to connect policy with the science. He calls for immediate grassroots action to save humanity from the dire and imminent fate presaged by the title of his book. “When the history of the climate crisis is written, Hansen will be seen as the scientist with the most powerful and consistent voice calling for intelligent action to preserve our planet's environment” (Al Gore, Time).

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required.

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

Eat, Pray, Love and Committed

Elizabeth Gilbert

Princess Ben, Front and Center, and Dairy Queen

Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Please join Spells Writing Center for a conversation with sisters Elizabeth Gilbert and Catherine Gilbert Murdock about writing, relationships, and other humble responsibilities, moderated by Larry Platt, editor-in-chief of Philadephia magazine. Book signing and dessert reception to follow.

The Joseph Fox Bookshop will be donating a portion of the booksale proceeds to the Spells Writing Center.

Loews Hotel 
1200 Market Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107

This is a TICKETED event, for registration and additional information, please click here 

I Walked with Giants: The Autobigraphy of Jimmy Heath

Jimmy Heath

In conversation with co-author Joseph McLaren

A National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master and three-time Grammy Award nominee, Jimmy Heath has performed on more than 125 albums and written more than 100 compositions, including the jazz classics “Gemini,” “Gingerbread Boy,” and “CTA.” Raised in Philadelphia, he formed the legendary Heath Brothers Band with his older brother Percy and younger brother Tootie. During his now more than 60-year career, Heath has performed with many jazz giants, including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Dizzy Gillespie, who said of Heath, “All I can say is, if you know Jimmy Heath, you know Bop.” By turns witty and touching, Heath's candid new autobiography reveals what it was like to spend a life in jazz.

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required.

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

Sugar of the Crop: My Journey to Find the Children of Slaves

Sana Butler

In honor of Black History Month, the Center welcomes Newsweek’s Sana Butler for a conversation about her new book Sugar of the Crop, an account of her ten year odyssey to find and interview the last surviving children of American slaves. Butler will discuss how freed slaves raised their children in the years following the end of the Civil War.  She details a race against time to crisscross the country to reveal the hopes and dreams of the first generation of free African Americans.  She will discuss the immigrant mentality black parents carried after 1865 as they believed in the Constitution and the potential of a new America.

Annenberg Center for Education and Outreach
F.M. Kirby Auditorium
National Constitution Center
Independence Mall
525 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA

 This is a FREE event; but reservations are required. Please call 215.409.6700, or click here

Skinny Couple in a Box

Kim Barnouin

A former model with a master’s degree in holistic nutrition, Kim Barnouin is co-author, along with Rory Freedman, of the diet book for women Skinny Bitch. With more than two million copies in print, it was a no. 1 New York Times bestseller and has been translated into 20 languages. A frank guide to eating well and losing weight—Dwight Garner called it “a funny foul-mouthed ode to adopting a vegan diet” (The New York Times Book Review)—the book is collected in this new box set along with its male companion, Skinny Bastard.

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required.

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers

Thomas Fleming

A compelling, intimate look at the founders—George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison—and the women who played essential roles in their lives. With his usual storytelling flair and unparalleled research, Fleming nimbly takes us through a great deal of early American history, as his founding fathers strove to reconcile the private and public, often beset by a media every bit as gossip seeking and inflammatory as ours today. He offers a powerful look at the challenges women faced in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While often brilliant and articulate, the wives of the founding fathers all struggled with the distractions and dangers of frequent childbearing and searing anxiety about infant mortality. All the more remarkable, then, that these women loomed so large in the lives of their husbands—and, in some cases, their country.

Athenaeum of Philadelphia
219 S. 6th Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106

This event is FREE for Athenaeum Members; $10 admission for non-members. Reservations are required; please contact Susan Gallo at 215-925-2688 or sgallo@philaathenaeum.org. For more information, please click here

Little Bee

Chris Cleave

Chris Cleave’s debut novel Incendiary—a fictional narrative of a terrorist bombing in London—appeared in bookstores the same day a series of bombings of London’s public transportation system claimed more than 50 lives. A review in The Washington Post called the book “A mesmerizing tour de force: ragged, breathless, full of raw emotion, the blackest of humor and relentless action.” In Little Bee, Cleave tells the story of a Nigerian orphan named Little Bee and an English couple whose lives become inescapably intertwined. Unflinching and brutal, the book examines the lack of compassion in the world of refugees.

Mornings in Jenin: A Novel

Susan Abulhawa

Born to Palestinian refugees of the Six-Day War of 1967, Susan Abulhawa faced the disintegration of her family, the loss of their property, and lived in countries all over the world before finally settling in America. An outspoken advocate for Palestinians, she is also the founder of Playgrounds for Palestine, a non-governmental organization that builds playgrounds for children living in occupied areas and refugee camps. Originally published as The Scar of David, Abulhawa’s debut novel, Mornings in Jenin, is a fictionalized account of a Palestinian family forced into the Jenin refugee camp after the formation of Israel in 1948. Profoundly moving, the novel highlights the universal desire of all people for a homeland and brings new light to the lasting conflict in the Middle East.

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required.

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

The Infinities 

John Banville

The Infinities is John Banville’s first literary fiction since his 2005 Man Booker Prize winner The Sea. The Dublin-based writer is the author of 14 previous novels including Kepler and The Book of Evidence. Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Award, and a Lannan Literary Award for fiction, Banville writes in a densely wrought, distinctive style that has drawn comparisons to the work of Joyce, Beckett, and Nabokov. In The Infinities, the Godley family gathers as their patriarch lies dying. Around them hovers another family, one of mischievous immortals—among them, Zeus, Pan, and Hermes, the genial and omniscient narrator of the story.

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a TICKETED event; $14 General Admission, $7 Students. Tickets on sale Friday, January 15 at 10:00 a.m. at freelibrary.org/authorevents or by phone at 1-800-595-4TIX (4849).

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. "The days are long, but the years are short," she realized. "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project.

In this lively and compelling account of that year, Rubin carves out her place alongside the authors of bestselling memoirs such as Julie and Julia, The Year of Living Biblically, and Eat, Pray, Love. With humor and insight, she chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.

Hyatt at the Bellevue
200 South Broad Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required.

For more information, click here

The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi

Elif Shafak

With more than 150,000 copies sold, Elif Shafak’s The Forty Rules of Love is already a no. 1 bestseller in Turkey. One of the most well-known authors of Turkish descent writing today, Shafak was charged with the crime of “insulting Turkishness” by the Turkish government for her previous novel The Bastard of Istanbul; the critically acclaimed author was ultimately pardoned. In The Forty Rules of Love, Shafak tells the story of a romance between a modern Jewish-American housewife and a male Sufi living in Amsterdam interwoven with a parallel narrative about the intense spiritual bond between the historical figures of Rumi and the Shams of Tabris.

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a TICKETED event; $14 General Admission, $7 Students. Tickets on sale Friday, January 15 at 10:00 a.m. at freelibrary.org/authorevents or by phone at 1-800-595-4TIX (4849).

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar

Taryn Simon

Artist Taryn Simon assumes the dual role of shrewd informant and collector of curiousities, compiling an inventory of what lies hidden and out-of-view within the borders of the United States. She examines American culture through careful documentation of diverse subjects from the realms of science, government, medicine, entertainment, nature, security, and religion. Transforming the unknown into a seductive and intelligible form, Simon confronts the divide between those with and without the privilege of access.

Her sometimes ethereal, sometimes foreboding compositions, shot with a large-format view camera over a four-year period, vary as much as her subject matter, which ranges from radioactive capsules at a nuclear waste storage facility to live HIV and medical waste to a black bear in hibernation.

For more information on Taryn Simon, please click here

The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
19 S. 22nd Street
Philadelphia, PA

 This is a FREE event, but reservations are requested. Please call 215.563.3737, or click here

My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer

Anousheh Ansari

On September 18, 2006, Anousheh Ansari became the first astronaut of Iranian descent, the first female private space explorer, and the fourth person ever to purchase a ride into space. Fleeing the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ansari immigrated to the United States when she was 16 years old. Eventually, as co-founder of Telecom Technologies, she amassed a personal fortune that would fund her way to the International Space Station. The blog she maintained while in space attracted a record 25 million readers; My Dream of the Stars is her account of her groundbreaking journey. More than just an astronaut story, her memoir is a message of hope for people struggling to overcome economic and cultural barriers.

Co-author of My Dream of Stars, Homer Hickam wrote the no. 1 New York Times bestseller Rocket Boys, which was adapted into the major theatrical release, October Sky. He is the author of eight other books, including the 1989 military nonfiction bestseller Torpedo Junction and the New York Times bestseller Back to the Moon.

 A One Book, One Philadelphia program. For more information call 215-567-7710.

My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World

Jeff Garlin

My Footprint documents Jeff Garlin's hysterical journey to lessen both his physical and carbon footprint. Comedian and actor Jeff Garlin is best known for his work on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Garlin also spent three seasons on NBC's Mad About You in the role of Marvin, and has a variety of television and film appearances to his credit including Dr. Katz, Arrested Development, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Late Show with David Letterman, Tom Goes to the Mayor, The Daily Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Daddy Day Care, and WALL-E. He has also had his own HBO half-hour comedy special.

Helium Comedy Club
2031 Sansom St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a TICKETED event; $25 General admission. For tickets and more information, please call 215.496.9001, or click here

The End of Days: Armageddon and Prophecies of the Return

Zecharia Sitchin

In The End of Days, the conclusion to the Earth Chronicles series, bestselling author Zecharia Sitchin treats ancient Sumerian writings and biblical tales not as mythology, but as records and recollections of mankind’s past.

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required.

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

ROAR! Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing Jungle

Kevin Daum

Please join the CEO Think Tank for their Fourth Annual Growth Strategies Breakfast.

In today’s business world great is not good enough. If you want to attract and retain customers you have to stand out by "Creating the Awesome Experience". 

Come hear author, Smart Business Magazine columnist, and Inc. 500 entrepreneur Kevin Daum as he shares with you how to separate your business from the crowd by creating the convergence of need, entertainment and the unexpected.

Kevin will show you the three components you must master in your business including compelling messaging, intentional marketing and memorable delivery. His marketing methods have resulted in over a billion dollars in sales and numerous book deals. He’ll reveal the 3500-year-old-secret of success from his forthcoming book ROAR! Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing Jungle, and share adventures from his quest for the Jewish Super Bowl Ring.

Please note, ROAR! Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing Jungle, will NOT be available for sale at this event. Pre-order a copy through this website or by calling the bookshop at 215.563.4184. All advance orders will recieve a 20% discount; orders will be filled upon the official book publication in April. 

Union League of Philadelphia

140 South Broad Street

Philadelphia, PA, 19102

This is a TICKETED event, for more information, including pricing and registration, please click here

For more info on Kevin Daum, his book and quest, check out his blog and video at www.AwesomeRoar.com

The Future of the Past: A Conservation Ethic for Architecture, Urbanism, and Historic Preservation

Steven W. Semes

A comprehensive and eloquent argument for "new traditional" architecture that preserves the style and character of historic buildings. With contemporary design being redefined by architects and urbanists who are recovering the historic language associated with traditional architecture and the city, how might preservation change its focus or update its mission? Steven W. Semes makes a persuasive case that context matters and that new buildings and additions to old buildings should be harmonious with their neighbors.

Athenaeum of Philadelphia
219 S. 6th Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106

This event is FREE for Athenaeum Members, Classical America, Preservation Alliance and AIA Members; $10 admission for non-members. Reservations are required; please contact Susan Gallo at 215-925-2688 or sgallo@philaathenaeum.org. For more information, please click here

The Ask

Sam Lipsyte

A master of dark satire and a purveyor of quick, witty language, Sam Lipsyte “shows off the prose equivalent of three chords on a one-string guitar” (Kirkus Reviews). His short story collection Venus Drive was named one of the top 25 books of the year by the Voice Literary Supplement, and his latest novel, Home Land, was awarded the first annual Believer Book Award and was a 2005 New York Times Notable Book. In The Ask, development officer Milo Burke struggles to keep his job by courting a former classmate for a donation.

Union Atlantic

Adam Haslett

Adam Haslett’s first collection of short stories, You Are Not a Stranger Here, was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize and won the 2003 L.L. Winship PEN New England Award. A reviewer in the New York Times Book Review called the collection the “herald of a phenomenal career.” Union Atlantic, Haslett’s debut novel, tells of the legal struggle between a banker and a retired schoolteacher over rights to build on land that the schoolteacher’s grandfather donated to her town. Characterizing Haslett’s stories in a Salon.com review, Laura Miller wrote, “The twist in an Adam Haslett story is often a revelation about who is actually the stronger in a pair of characters.”

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required.

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

 Encyclopedia of Africa

Kwame Anthony Appiah

Philosopher and scholar Kwame Anthony Appiah is president of the PEN American Center and a professor at Princeton University. He is the author of a collection of essays on African-American identity called In My Father’s House and co-author of the nonfiction book Color Consciousness: The Political Morality of Race. He collaborated with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., to complete Africana, which became the basis for the revised and expanded Encyclopedia of Africa. Providing the most current and extensive coverage of the region, the Encyclopedia of Africa profiles prominent individuals and outlines significant events, places, political movements, art forms, religions, and ethnic groups throughout Africa.

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required.

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

The Color of Style

David Zyla

 Please join Boyds Philadelphia for a fashionable book signing event with David Zyla, stylist to the stars and head costume designer for All My Children.

David will be highlighting essential fashion tips from his new book and sharing his expertise. He'll help you select your own color palette for the new fashion season while you shop for the new spring collections!

Women's Store

3rd Floor

Boyds Philadelphia
1818 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a FREE event, but reservations are required. Please email rsvp@boydsphila.com 

Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Dreams in a Time War: A Childhood Memoir

A novelist and a theorist of post-colonial literature at the University of California, Irvine, Ngugi wa Thiong’o is one of Kenya’s best-known public intellectuals. In 1977, following the publication of his novel Petals of Blood—which relates the disillusionment of people living in post-independence Kenya—he was arrested and imprisoned without charge. Now, living in exile for more than 20 years, Thiong’o still writes for the oppressed Kenyan working class. His novels include A Grain of Wheat, Matigari, and the highly praised Wizard of the Crow. In his new memoir, Dreams in a Time of War, Thiong’o recalls growing up under British colonialist rule and his survival during the war for independence in Kenya.

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required.

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama

Gwen Ifill

Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North

Thomas J. Sugrue

On the two-year anniversary of then-Senator Barack Obama's pivotal campaign speech, A More Perfect Union, Gwen Ifill, moderator and managing editor of Washington Week and senior correspondent for The PBS Newshour, Martin Luther King III, Founding President and CEO of Realizing the Dream, Inc., and Thomas J. Sugrue, David Boies Professor of History and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, will join the National Constitution Center for an open dialogue on race, moderated by Charles A. Williams III, assistant clinical professor and director of the Center for the Prevention of School-Aged Violence at Drexel University. Before joining the panel, Dr. Michael L. Lomax, President and CEO of UNCF (the United Negro College Fund), will begin the conversation with a presentation proposing that education leads America's racial priorities.

Annenberg Center for Outreach and Education

F.M. Kirby Auditorium 

National Constitution Center
Independence Mall, 525 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103

This is a FREE event; reservations are required.

For more information, call 215.409.6700, or click here 

Dimiter

William Peter Blatty

An Academy Award-winning screenwriter and producer, William Peter Blatty is the author of the iconic horror novel The Exorcist. Based loosely on a real-life possession story, the book sold more than 13 million copies and remained on the New York Times Best Sellers list for more than 55 weeks. The 1973 film adaptation broke box office records and effectively set the standard by which horror movies are still measured. Blatty wrote two bestselling books following The Exorcist: The Ninth Configuration and Legion, and he wrote and directed the film The Exorcist III: Legion. Set in 1970’s Albania, Dimiter—Blatty’s first full-length novel since Legion—is a chilling psychological drama that opens on a torture table.

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required.

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

The Things They Carried

Tim O'Brian

Now in its 20th year of publication, Tim O’Brien’s modern classic The Things They Carried has more than two million copies in print. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Things They Carried is a collection of short stories that form a fictionalized account of O’Brien’s military service during the Vietnam War. In her New York Times review of the book, Michiko Kakutani commented, “Mr. O’Brien has written a vital, important book—a book that matters not only to the reader interested in Vietnam, but to anyone interested in the craft of writing as well.” O’Brien won the 1979 National Book Award for Going After Cacciato, and his other books include If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, Tomcat in Love, and July, July.

This is a TICKETED event; $14 General Admission, $7 Students. Tickets on sale Friday, January 15 at 10:00 a.m. at freelibrary.org/authorevents or by phone at 1-800-595-4TIX (4849).

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West

Stephen Fried

The legendary life and entrepreneurial vision of Fred Harvey helped shape American culture and history for three generations—from the 1880s all the way through World War II—and still influence our lives today in surprising and fascinating ways. Now award-winning journalist Stephen Fried re-creates the life of this unlikely American hero, the founding father of the nation’s service industry, whose remarkable family business civilized the West and introduced America to Americans.

Appetite for America is the incredible real-life story of Fred Harvey—told in depth for the first time ever—as well as the story of this country’s expansion into the Wild West of Bat Masterson and Billy the Kid, of the great days of the railroad, of a time when a deal could still be made with a handshake and the United States was still uniting. As a young immigrant, Fred Harvey worked his way up from dishwasher to household name: He was Ray Kroc before McDonald’s, J. Willard Marriott before Marriott Hotels, Howard Schultz before Starbucks. His eating houses and hotels along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroad (including historic lodges still in use at the Grand Canyon) were patronized by princes, presidents, and countless ordinary travelers looking for the best cup of coffee in the country. Harvey’s staff of carefully screened single young women—the celebrated Harvey Girls—were the country’s first female workforce and became genuine Americana, even inspiring an MGM musical starring Judy Garland.

With the verve and passion of Fred Harvey himself, Stephen Fried tells the story of how this visionary built his business from a single lunch counter into a family empire whose marketing and innovations we still encounter in myriad ways. Inspiring, instructive, and hugely entertaining, Appetite for America is historical biography that is as richly rewarding as a slice of fresh apple pie—and every bit as satisfying.

Power Plant Studios
230 North Second Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, please click here.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life

Lori D. Ginzberg

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of the best-known advocates of women’s suffrage in the 19th century. Outspoken, energetic, and controversial, she organized the first Women's Rights Convention in 1848 and, with Susan B. Anthony, co-founded the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869. She spent her life writing and speaking about women’s rights, but her views on class, race, and intellect, are characterized by a startling elitism. Lori D. Ginzberg, a professor of history and women’s studies at Pennsylvania State University and author of Untidy Origins: A Story of Woman’s Rights in Antebellum New York, is at once critical and admiring in this new biography that examines Stanton’s ambiguous legacy.

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required.

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

Cezanne's Quarry

Barbara Pope

"At the beginning of 1885, Cezanne's lonely contemplation of nature was interrupted by a violent love affair with a woman about whom little is known except that he met her in Aix" -- John Rewald, Cezanne 

A beautiful young woman is found murdered in Aix-en-Provence...and the clues toward her death point to her spurned lover, Paul Cezanne. Could he be a killer?

Barbara Pope, Professor Emerita of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Oregon and the author of Cezanne's Quarry, animates her canvas with many vivid period details. Francophiles, history buffs, and art lovers will find much to savor.

This lecture and booksigning includes cocktails, Provencal drinks, and hors d'oeuvre.

Ethical Society of Philadelphia
1906 South Rittenhouse Square
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a TICKETED event; admission is $15 for Alliance Francaise and American Association of Teachers of French, $25 for non AF/AATF. Seating is limited, please call the Alliance Francaise for reservations at 215-735-5283.

This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All

Marilyn Johnson

Journalist Marilyn Johnson has been a staff writer for Life and an editor at Esquire, Redbook, and Outside. An obituary expert, she is the author of The Dead Beat and has written obituaries for Princess Diana, Jackie Onassis, Katharine Hepburn, Johnny Cash, Bob Hope, and Marlon Brando. In her kaleidoscopic new book, Johnson argues that far from being obsolete, libraries and librarians are essential in facilitating the new information revolution. Nora Rawlinson declares in EarlyWord that This Book is Overdue! “does for the library profession what Malcolm Gladwell did for the theory of memetics in The Tipping Point.”

Central Library
1901 Vine St
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required.

For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here

Noir: A Novel

Robert Coover

Robert Coover is an avant-garde novelist, critic, and playwright whose work combines fact with fiction and twists familiar stories in ways that expose the absurdities of modern society. He is the author of the William Faulkner Award winner The Origin of the Brunists and the acclaimed novels The Public Burning, Spanking the Maid, Gerald's Party, Pinocchio in Venice, John's Wife, Ghost Town, and Briar Rose, among many others. With Noir, Coover—who was described in the New York Times as “a one-man Big Bang of exploding creative force”—creates a classic crime story in which nothing is what it seems to be.

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