Escaping daily life...gang wars in Chinatown...New York City food culture...Robert F. Kennedy...protests during the Revolutionary era...superfood recipes...Parisians in the 1920s...benefits of old-fashioned navigation...struggles of Stuyvesant Town...history of the Thanksgiving holiday.

We've got a selection of engaging author talks coming up this month at the Mid-Manhattan Library. Come listen to scholars and other experts discuss their recent non-fiction books on a variety of subjects and ask them questions. 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 from the catalog by using the links below.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud with author Elizabeth Greenwood in conversation with writer and editor Jaime Green.

This discussion investigates our all-too-human desire to escape from the lives we lead, and the men and women desperate enough to lose their identities—and their families—to begin again.

 

 

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Tong Wars: The Untold Story of Vice, Money, and Murder in New York's Chinatown with Scott D. Seligman, writer, historian, genealogist, retired corporate executive and career "China hand."

This illustrated lecture explores the Chinese gang wars that engulfed New York’s Chinatown from the 1890s through the 1930s.

 

 

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Food and the City: New York's Professional Chefs, Restaurateurs, Line Cooks, Street Vendors, and Purveyors Talk About What They Do and Why They Do It with Ina Yalof, a journalist and non-fiction author who reports on a variety of diverse topics.

This lecture gives a behind-the-scenes tour of New York City’s dynamic food culture, as told through the voices of the chefs, line cooks, restaurateurs, waiters, and street vendors who have made this industry their lives.

 

 

Wednesday, October 19, 2016 @ 12pm in the Corner Room-1st floor

Join The New York Public Library in welcoming award-winning author and journalist Larry Tye, for a discussion about his book, Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon.

Larry Tye was an award-winning journalist at The Boston Globe and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He now runs a Boston-based training program for medical journalists. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Satchel, as well as Superman, The Father of Spin, Home Lands, and Rising from the Rails, and co-author, with Kitty Dukakis, of Shock. He lives in Massachusetts

*Space is limited, registration recommended

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Revolutionary Dissent: How the Founding Generation Created the Freedom of Speech with Stephen D. Solomon, associate professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University.

This illustrated lecture shares the stories of the dissenters who created the American idea of the liberty of thought.

 

 

Thursday, October 20, 2016

The Power Greens Cookbook: 140 Delicious Superfood Recipes with Dana Jacobi, the award-winning author of fifteen cookbooks.

This illustrated lecture introduces the fifteen Power Greens—from arugula to watercress—that are loaded with health-supporting nutrients and phytochemicals that enhance vitality and features healthy recipes for dark, leafy greens.

 

Monday, October 24, 2016

When Paris Sizzled: The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends with Mary McAuliffe, author of Dawn of the Belle Epoque, Twilight of the Belle Epoque, Clash of Crowns, and Paris Discovered.

This lecture portrays the City of Light during the fabulous 1920s, les Annees folles, when Parisians emerged from the horrors of war to find that a new world greeted them, one that reverberated with the hard metallic clang of the assembly line, the roar of automobiles, and the beat of jazz. It traces a decade that saw seismic change on almost every front, from art and architecture to music, literature, fashion, entertainment, transportation, and, most notably, behavior.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Finding North: How Navigation Makes Us Human with George Michelsen Foy, author of Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute Silence, and twelve critically acclaimed novels.

This illustrated lecture shows how navigating affects our brains, our memory, ourselves and why forsaking our navigation skills in favor of GPS may lead not only to Alzheimers and other diseases of memory, but to losing a key part of what makes us human.

 

 

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Priced Out: Stuyvesant Town and the Loss of Middle-Class Neighborhoods with Lisa M. Morrison, Social Affairs Officer at the United Nations in New York City and a contributing author to the "Report on the World Social Situation."

This illustrated lecture explores Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town housing development, the site of an ongoing struggle between long-term, rent-regulated residents, younger, market-rate tenants, and new owners seeking to turn this community into a luxury commodity.

 

Monday, October 31, 2016

Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience with Melanie Kirkpatrick, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a former deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page.

This lecture brings to life the full history of the holiday and what it has meant to generations of Americans.

Don’t miss the many interesting films, book discussions, and computer and technology classes on our program calendar. If you would like to sit back and listen to a good story, try out our Story Time for Grown-ups. The theme for this month is Thrills and Chills. If you enjoy talking about books with other readers, join us on Friday, October 14 for Open Book Night. The theme this month is Horrifying Tales.

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

Download flyers for the Mid-Manhattan Library's October 2016 book related programs here: