Who was Miss Anne in 1920s Harlem? How did George Washington define the American presidency? What is keeping a majority of Americans from eating well? Can the world’s most endangered big cat be saved? How does scarcity shape our lives, our society, and our culture? How have New Yorkers' food habits changed over the centuries? How can we improve brain performance at any age? Why rediscover filmmaker Anthony Mann’s early crime films? What fascinating stories does Murray Hill have to tell? Why do powerful nations sometimes intervene to stop mass atrocities but sometimes do not?

Why not come in out of the cold and warm up your mind by exploring these questions at our Author @ the Library programs this February? (You could hibernate at home and read to your cat like the man in the picture, but I think our programs might prove to be more stimulating.) If you'd like to read any of the books by these impressive authors, you can request them using the links to the catalog included below. Author talks take place at 6:30 p.m. on the 6th floor. No reservations are required.

On Tuesday, February 4, Professor Carla Kaplan of Northwestern University, author of Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance, gives an illustrated lecture about the white women who defied social convention and became Harlem Renaissance insiders in the 1920s. [Unfortunately, this program has been canceled.]

On Thursday, February 6, acclaimed historian Harlow Giles Unger reveals how Washington responded to several crises during his two terms, defining the American presidency in the process, when he discusses his most recent book, "Mr. President”: George Washington and the Making of the Nation’s Highest Office. 

On Monday, February 10, award-winning journalist Tracie M. McMillan, who went undercover to investigate our food system, explains what keeps Americans from eating well - and what we can do about it - in The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table.

On Tuesday, February 11,  National Geographic wildlife photojournalist Steve Winter and co-author and photographer Sharon Guynup illustrate the fight to protect and grow the world's last 32,000 wild tigers in Tigers Forever: Saving the World’s Most Endangered Big Cat. 

On Thursday, February 13, Professor Eldar Shafir of Princeton University, author of Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much and co-founder and scientific director at ideas42, depicts a surprising and intriguing examination of how scarcity - and our flawed responses to it - shapes our lives, our society, and our culture. 

On Thursday, February 20, prolific food writer Andrew F. Smith presents all the vibrancy, innovation, diversity, influence, and taste of our beloved American metropolis in New York City: A Food Biography.

On Monday, February 24, Alvaro Fernandez, author of The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness: How to Optimize Brain Health and Performance at Any Age and CEO of Sharp­Brains.com, helps us discover what really works, and what doesn’t, to improve brain health and performance at any age, to delay or prevent cognitive decline, and to become smarter consumers of both media coverage and scientific research in the process.

On Tuesday, February 25, film historian Max Alvarez returns to Mid-Manhattan to  discuss his new book, The Crime Films of Anthony Mann, and, through DVD clips and slides, study the vision and craftsmanship of the master filmmaker during his formative years in 1940s Hollywood.

On Wednesday, February 26, from J. P. Morgan’s mansion to Andy Warhol’s “Factory,” local authors Alfred and Joyce Pommer take us on a virtual tour of a venerable Manhattan neighborhood, showing the striking architecture and fascinating stories to be found when Exploring Manhattan’s Murray Hill.  

On Thursday, February 27, Professor Gary J. Bass of Princeton University, author of The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide, shares the compelling history of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger's involvement in the 1971 atrocities in Bangladesh that led to war between India and Pakistan, shaped the fate of Asia, and left in the wake a host of major strategic consequences for the world today.

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If you'd like to read any of the books presented at our past author talks, you can find book lists from our January 2013 - January 2014 Author @ the Library programs in the BiblioCommons catalog.

The Author @ the Library posts include authors discussing their recent non-fiction books at the Mid-Manhattan Library. Don't miss the many other interesting readings and talks on our program calendar, including art lectures and artist conversations, monthly panel discussions featuring authors from the Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter, and short story readings at Story Time for Grown-ups.

We hope to see you soon!