Seminary Co-op Bookstore

Come meet Holly Robinson with her book "Grebil Farmers Daughter". Journalist Robinson cheerfully recalls growing up with a closeted gerbil-breeder. The author's father was a captain in the Navy, a war veteran and an academy professor. He also raised gerbils, as a hedge against future income needs and ... (more)because he believed, as lab animals, they contributed to the common good. Because Navy officials would have frowned upon this strange sideline business, he had to keep it a secret until retirement, when his initial stash of eight "tiny, caffeinated kangaroos" reached a rotating population of nearly 9,000. Robinson presents a colorful cast of characters: her dad the "Gerbil Czar," her acid-tongued mother, the standard-issue feckless younger brother, a cute but mischievous little sister and a too-smart-for-his-own-good youngest brother. It's a scenario that could have been lifted from a 1960s sitcom, but Robinson invests the narrative with pathos, good-natured moments of absurdity and plenty of keen humor.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood is very excited to welcome Mark Weiss to the shop to discuss and sign the anthology of poetry he edited, The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry.
Cuba's cultural influence throughout the Western Hemisphere, and especially in the United States, has been disproportionally ... (more)large for so small a country. This landmark volume is the first comprehensive overview of poetry written over the past sixty years. Presented in a beautiful Spanish-English en face edition, The Whole Island makes available the astonishing achievement of a wide range of Cuban poets, including such well-known figures as Nicolás Guillén, José Lezama Lima, and Nancy Morejón, but also poets widely read in Spanish who remain almost unknown to the English-speaking world - among them Fina García Marruz, José Kozer, Raúl Hernández Novás, and Ángel Escobar-and poets born since the Revolution, like Rogelio Saunders, Omar Pérez, Alessandra Molina, and Javier Marimón. The translations, almost all of them new, convey the intensity and beauty of the accompanying Spanish originals. With their work deeply rooted in Cuban culture, many of these poets - both on and off the island - have been at the center of the political and social changes of this tempestuous period. The poems offered here constitute an essential source for understanding the literature and culture of Cuba, its diaspora, and the Caribbean at large, and provide an unparalleled perspective on what it means to be Cuban.

As fossil fuel prices rise, oil insecurity deepens, and concerns about climate change cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new energy economy is emerging. Wind, solar, and geothermal energy are replacing oil, coal, and natural gas, at a pace and on a scale we could not have imagined even a year ago. ... (more)For the first time since the Industrial Revolution, we have begun investing in energy sources that can last forever. Plan B 4.0 explores both the nature of this transition to a new energy economy and how it will affect our daily lives.Lester R. Brown is founder and President of Earth Policy Institute. He is considered a pioneer of the concept of environmentally sustainable development. His books have been published in more than forty languages. He has been honored with numerous prizes, including a MacArthur Fellowship, the United Nations Environment Prize, and Japan's Blue Planet Prize.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to present David Swanson as he discusses and signs his new book, Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union.
Swanson holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and ... (more)as a communications director, with jobs including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as communications coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

Marda Dunsky will speak on her book, Pens and Swords: How the American Mainstream Media Report the Israeli-Palestinian
Conflict. As world attention is renewed and refocused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the sixtieth anniversary of its
seminal year of 1948, Marda Dunsky takes a close look at ... (more)how more than two dozen major American print and broadcast outlets have reported the conflict in recent years.Marda Dunsky is a former Arab affairs reporter for the Jerusalem Post and
editor on the national/foreign desk of the Chicago Tribune. She has developed and taught a unique media literacy course on American mainstream reporting of the Arab and Muslim worlds at Northwestern University and DePaul University.

Poet Laureate of the United States since 2007, Charles Simic is an award-winning poet, essayist, editor and translator. The author of 18 books of poetry, he will read from and discuss his newest collection, That Little Something. A book sale and signing will follow. Co-sponsored with the Poetry Foundation.

Gilbert King's The Execution of Willie Francis is an incisive look at the events that led to the botched first attempt at the execution of African-American teenager Willie Francis. Convicted of killing a white man, his employer, in 1946 Louisiana, the mobile electric chair meant to kill him failed to ... (more)do so, only torturing the young man as electricity surged through his body. The execution was rescheduled to take place six days later, but public outcry and the actions of a local lawyer delayed this second execution as the case was argued all the way to the Supreme Court, highlighting the issues of race, justice, and capital punishment.

Laura K. Donohue obtained her A.B. with Honors in Philosophy from Dartmouth College, where she focused on political theory and government. She was awarded an M.A. with Distinction in War and Peace Studies from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. Donohue holds a PhD in History, from Cambridge ... (more)University, England, and her J.D. with Distinction from Stanford Law School. Currently, Donohue is a fellow at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). She also is a By-Fellow of Churchill College, University of Cambridge, England.

I loved this book and think it is the beginning of a fantastic series. Plus I learned a lot about the time period - always the mark of good historical fiction! Join us whether you've read the book or not!

Trucks! Storytime means big wheel fun for everyone. Join us for a honking good time on Saturday, June 21st at 2:00pm as we share our favorite truck books. In addition to stories, snacks, and games, special guest author Sallie Wolf will read and sign her new picture book, TRUCK STUCK! Always Free. Always ... (more)Fun.

Michel Marriott has written for numerous publications, including The Washington Post, Newsweek, and The New York Times, where he was a staff reporter for nineteen years. He
is now a journalism professor at Baruch College, The City University of New York. For much of the last ... (more)decade, he has written exclusively about digital technologies and their influence on the quickening evolution of human culture.

In Outlaw Journalist, William McKeen provides a riveting account of Hunter S. Thompson's life and work. McKeen skilfully looks beyond the larger than life public persona and cuts to the core of a man who embodied the irreverence in the American spirit and changed American journalism forever.William McKeen ... (more)is the author of six books and editor of four more. He has been copy editor and reporter at several newspapers, and was staff editor at The Saturday Evening Post and production editor for The American Spectator. He earned his B.A. in history and his M.A. in journalism from Indiana University and his Ph.D. in education from the University of Oklahoma. He is currently Chair of the Department of Journalism at the University of Florida.

Please join us as Domnica Radulescu reads from and discusses her debut novel, Train to Trieste.Domnica Radulescu was born in Romania and came to the United States in 1983. She is a professor of Romance languages and literature and of women’s studies at Washington and Lee University. She has written ... (more)and edited books and scholarly articles on European literature and theater, and is the founding director of the National Symposium of Theater in Academe. She lives in Lexington, Virginia, with her two sons.

Now you see him, now your don't! This month we will be reading H.G. Well's classic science fiction novel, the Invisible Man and watching James Whale's B&W film version starring Claude Rains. After which will be discussing both the novel and the film!

"Spychips" takes readers into the frightening world of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), where tiny computer chips allow strangers to study your shopping habits, medical history, even pinpoint your physical location. Katherine will be here to inform us of this developing technology and the bigger ... (more)implications of privacy and civil liberties.

Our Annual Educator's Open House will take place on Wednesday, October 15th beginning at 6:30pm. This year's guest author is Seth Lerer who will present his new book, Children's Literature: A Reader's History From Aesop to Harry Potter. Join us for a lively discussion, refreshments, prizes, giveaways, ... (more)and a special once-a-year discount on all purchases.Please email Angela at kidsbooks@semcoop.com if you have any questions or would like to be added to our Educator's email list.

Join Diesel Bookstore for a green event with Van Jones, author of Green Collar Economy!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Van Jones is the founder and president of Green For All, based in Oakland. The mission is to help build an inclusive, green economy - strong enough to lift millions of people out of poverty. Van ... (more)is a tireless advocate, championing "green-collar jobs and opportunities" for disadvantaged people. He is committed to creating "green pathways out of poverty," while greatly expanding the coalition fighting global warming.

He's worked to combine solutions to America's two biggest problems: social inequality and environmental destruction. Under the slogan "green-collar jobs, not jails," he is calling for green economic development in urban America.

As an advocate for the toughest urban constituencies and causes, he has won many honors, which include the 1998 Reebok International Human Rights Award, the international Ashoka Fellowship, selection as a World Economic Forum "Young Global Leader," and the Rockefeller Foundation "Next Generation Leadership" Fellowship.

He's also served on the boards of numerous national environmental organizations. Presently, he is a board member of the National Apollo Alliance, which advocates for clean energy jobs. He is also a founding board member of 1Sky, a national coalition working to avert catastrophic climate change.

In 2007, Van helped the City of Oakland pass a "Green Jobs Corps" proposal; the City allocated funds to train Oakland residents in eco-friendly "green-collar jobs."

At the national level, Van worked successfully in 2007 with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-MASS) to pass the Green Jobs Act of 2007. That path-breaking, historic legislation authorized $125 million in funding to train 35,000 people a year in "green-collar jobs." Van is also a co-founder of a new national coalition that promotes the idea of a national "Clean Energy Jobs Corps." This multi-billion-dollar federal initiative would put hundreds of thousands of people to work rewiring and retrofitting the energy infrastructure of the United States.

In 2005, Van produced the "Social Equity Track" for the United Nations' World Environment Day celebration. UNWED 2005 drew dozens of mayors from around the world to San Francisco, where they developed policies promoting the concept of "Green Cities."

In 1996, Van co-founded (with Diana Frappier) the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, now located in Oakland, California. Named for an unsung civil rights heroine, the award-winning Center promotes alternatives to violence and incarceration. The Center, for which Van serves as board president, incubated Green For All in 2007 and spun it off in 2008.

His many media appearances includes the popular Peabody award-winning show, The Colbert Report.

Join Clare Langley-Hawthorne at Diesel Bookstore as she presents the second book in her fantastic new historical mystery series! Featuring the strong, outspoken, intelligent and sassy Ursula Marlow, THE SERPENT AND THE SCORPION is a thrilling story of scandal and betrayal that's richly detailed and ... (more)action-packed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Clare Langley-Hawthorne was raised in England and Australia. She practiced law in Melbourne until 1995 when she emigrated moved to the United States and began work as a health economist. Clare has since put her pursuit of a PhD on hold to focus on her career as a writer. She lives in the San Francisco bay area with her husband and twin sons. This is her second novel.

For more information, visit her web site at www.clarelangleyhawthorne.com

In his first work since The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Leslie S. Klinger returns with this illustrated homage to Bram Stoker's Dracula. Most surprisingly, Klinger accepts Stoker's contention that the Dracula tale is based on historical fact. Traveling through two hundred years of popular culture ... (more)and myth as well as graveyards and the wilds of Transylvania, Klinger's notes illuminate every aspect of this haunting narrative (including a detailed examination of the original typescript of Dracula, with its strikingly different ending, previously unavailable to scholars).

In these uncertain financial times, knowing what to do with your savings is imperative. Nashua, NH financial planner Mike Bonacorsi will be here to lead us through the minefield of investment as he presents his new book, "Retirement Readiness: Creating Your Vision, Knowing Your Position, & Preparing ... (more)for Your Future".

Diana’s fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train Stories, Moment, Lilith, and elsewhere. She received her MFA degree from the University of Montana and was a Steinbeck Fellow at San Jose State University. She currently lives in New York City, where she is at work on her second novel.

Publisher’s Weekly ... (more)has raved, “In her affecting debut, Spechler [explores] whether, in rescuing others, we risk ruining ourselves . . . Told in alternating chapters by [the three main characters] the narrative is notable in large part for how little the family members interact with one another despite the drama that confronts them all . . . raises provocative questions about religion, violence, and the resilience of families and individuals.

We are delighted to welcome renowned film critic and Chicago icon Roger Ebert as he signs copies of his new book, Scorsese by Ebert. The signing will go from 1pm to 3pm inside the Newberry Library's lobby. Copies of the book will be available for sale inside the bookstore. Please call (773) 684-1300 ... (more)if you have any questions.The editor of Scorsese by Ebert recently contributed to our store blog in the Editor's Speak section. Please click here to view his essay.

Writer, film-maker, and leading figure of the international left Tariq Ali speaks about Pakistan, Afghanistan and the future of U.S. involvement in the region. Ali's new book, The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power, weighs the prospects of those contending for power in the aftermath ... (more)of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, and demonstrates Pakistan's unique influence on the emergence of a secure world or global conflagration.

According to its editors, the Chicagoan magazine represented "a cultural, civilized, and vibrant" city "which needs make no obeisance to Park Avenue, Mayfair, or the Champs Elysees." First published in 1926, it sought passionately to redeem the Windy City's unhappy reputation for organized crime, political ... (more)mayhem, and industrial squalor by demonstrating the style and sophistication of the Midwest. A booksigning follows the talk.

Oakland Book Group #3 meets and discusses Unforgiving Years by Victor Serge. This event is open to the public and free to attend. Books will be available for purchase at the store.

DIESEL, A Bookstore in Brentwood is pleased to welcome local stylist & author, Allen Edwards, as he discusses and signs his new book, Shear Force: An Image-Maker's Memoir. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Beauty industry icon and hair guru Allen Edwards is an internationally renowned image-maker and business leader. ... (more)Allen has styled some of the world’s most glamorous and fashionable women and is the creator of the Farrah Fawcett layered cut, a trend that still exists today. He also engineered Assistant District Attorney Marcia Clark’s new ‘do during the infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial. He turned hair shows into rock venues and changed the world of beauty, armed with shears, a blow dryer and the force of his personality. With over 1000 television appearances including OPRAH and REGIS, Allen Edwards has stayed at the top of his game for over 30 years.

John K. Wilson is the author of five books, including the forthcoming Patriotic Correctness: Academic Freedom and Its Enemies. His previous books include The Myth of Political Correctness: The Conservative Attack on Higher Education and Newt Gingrich: Capitol Crimes and Misdemeanors. He is the founder ... (more)of Institute for College Freedom at www.collegefreedom.org. He lives in Chicago.

During the recent sit-in by workers at Republic Windows and Doors, the issue of wage theft grabbed national headlines, but it is far from being a new phenomenon. Every year, billions of dollars’ worth of wages are stolen from millions of workers, a grand theft that exceeds every other larceny category ... (more)on record annually, and in today’s economy this crime affects more Americans than ever before. In Wage Theft in America: Why Millions of Working Americans Are Not Getting Paid and What We Can Do About It, author and community organizer Kim Bobo (Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice and co-author of Organizing for Social Change, the best-selling manual on progressive organizing in print) offers an incisive handbook for activists, workers, and concerned citizens on how to prevent flagrant exploitation of America’s working people, including a sweeping analysis of the crisis, hard-hitting statistics, and heart-breaking first-person accounts.This event is co-sponsored by The Public Square, a program of the Illinois Humanities Council, the Chicago Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues, and by Interfaith Worker Justice.

Artist and architect Silas Kopf will be appearing at the Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley, PA to discuss his new book "A Marquetry Odyssey". Marquetry is an ancient Egyptian craft of piecing together different species of wood, and occasionally other materials, to form pictures or graphic designs.
A graduate ... (more)of Princeton University with a degree in architecture, Silas Kopf has been making furniture since 1973. He was an apprentice to Wendell Castle for two years. In 1988 he was the recipient of a Craftsman's Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Subsequently he studied traditional marquetry technique at the Ecole Boulle in Paris.
His work is in museums and private collections around the world. His shop is in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Silas Kopf's website is www.silaskopf.com.

January marks the 200th birthday of one of the most towering and tragic figures in American letters. On this bleak midwinter evening, we will gather to commemorate the attenuated life and immortal work of Edgar Allan Poe with orations, prizes, and toasts.

Local author Juliette will be here to sign her new book, "Shelter Me".

DIESEL, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to welcome the award-winning author, Yiyun Li, as she discusses and signs her beautiful new novel, The Vagrants. The San Francisco Chronicle named Yiyun's previous book, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers the "Best Book of 2005", and her newest novel is set to ... (more)be just as intriguing. Don't miss your chance to meet this highly-acclaimed author as she presents her fantastic new novel!

Malibu Book Group meets to discuss David Dickinson's Goodnight Sweet Prince. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Meet the author of "Loop Year: 365 Days on the Trail" about his exploration of self and territory as he hiked a short loop trail every day for a calendar year.

Won't you come for a spot of tea and snacks with VT author Chris Bohjalian; celebrating the release in paperback of his novel "Skeletons at the Feast". We expect quite a crowd, please call ahead to let us know you (and your book group?) are attending. Everyone is welcome to meet the NYT bestselling ... (more)author and take part in the chat!

Author Jim Schultz is founder and Executive Director of the San Francisco based Democracy Center and has lived and worked in Bolivia for much of the past decade, chronicling grassroots movements to control exploitation of Bolivia's natural resources, from water resources to oil and natural gas. With ... (more)Melissa Crane Draper and other Democracy Center affiliates, Schultz places Bolivians’ struggles in a broader context of Latin America’s experiences with forces of globalization.

Please join DIESEL, A Bookstore in Oakland for acclaimed author Daniyal Mueenuddin, as he reads and discusses his wonderful new collection of stories, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders. Please note that this event starts earlier than normal, at 1 pm. About the Author: Daniyal Mueenuddin was brought up in ... (more)Lahore, Pakistan and Elroy, Wisconsin. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Law School, his stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Zoetrope, and The Best American Short Stories 2008, selected by Salman Rushdie. For a number of years he practiced law in New York. He now lives on a farm in Pakistan’s southern Punjab.

Local author Christina Sunley will host a book launch party for her new book, The Tricking of Freya. A beautifully-written debut novel that deftly weaves together Iceland’s distinctive history, ancient mythology, reverence for language, and passion for genealogy, The Tricking of Freya is a powerful ... (more)exploration of kinship, loss and redemption.About the Author:
Christina Sunley was born in New York City, raised on Long Island, and has lived for the past twenty years in the San Francisco Bay Area. She attended Wesleyan University, got a BFA in Film from New York University, and received her Masters in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. She currently works fulltime in the nonprofit sector.Christina grew up hearing stories about her Icelandic relatives and their journey to North America, following the 1875 volcanic eruption that decimated much of Iceland's farmland. To write The Tricking of Freya, she spent several years researching Icelandic history, mythology, and genealogy, including three trips to Iceland and a stint as writer-in-residence at Klaustriđ (The Monastery), a stone farmhouse in a remote area, near where her grandfather had lived.

Rashid Khalidi is Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies and Director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, and is among the foremost U.S. historians of the modern Middle East. He is the author of numerous books on the region--several written during his many years on the faculty ... (more)at the University of Chicago--including Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness; Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East; and The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood.

DIESEL, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to welcome Clive Matson to discuss and sign Mainline to the Heart. This event is free and all are welcome!
About the Book:
This new edition of Clive Matson’s early poems includes all of Diane di Prima’s “Poets Press” version -- 1,000 copies were sold ... (more)out in 1966-67 -- and adds significant uncollected pieces from the same period. At once obstreperous and innocent, these poems celebrate a place where emotion, sex, and religion come together with overwhelming intensity. In the 50s and 60s, Beat Generation writers were revisiting this edgy, full-blooded romantic tradition and Matson joined the exploration with youthful energy. But the quest was fraught with tension. Mainline to the Heart and Other Poems expresses a confluence of personal and historical forces. Clive Matson was coming of age at the same time the culture was at the height of its 1960s explosion. While the poems cast a sobering light on Beat exuberance, Matson’s vibrant imagery makes the personal, visionary, and sexual excitement impossible to deny.
About the Author:
Clive Matson arrived on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1960, a fresh-faced adolescent with a blank notebook under his arm. He quickly fell in with the Beat Generation – his first event was a reading at the Tenth Street Coffeehouse, where he met Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and Diane di Prima. Matson and his first wife Erin Black immersed themselves in sex, hard drugs, and psychedelics of 1960s Bohemian life. Eventually Matson became overwhelmed and returned to the West Coast. He worked for Taxi Unlimited, a producers’ cooperative in Berkeley; briefly for the Free Clinic and for MOVE (men overcoming violence); and learned the craft of printing from Clifford Burke at Cranium Press. Psychotherapy, Vipassana meditation, and twelve-step programs became fixtures in his life. That Matson ultimately emerged drug-free and healthy gave him full appreciation for 1960s passion and honesty. These qualities are crucially important, he thinks, for the current era. “Coming to terms with my youthful, energetic voice has been a challenge,” he admits. “It helps that I hear, in these poems, both an urgent need to connect and full cognizance of the difficulties.” Mostly Matson writes from the itch in his body, and says he always has. He likes playing basketball, table tennis, and collecting minerals in the field. He lives in Oakland, California, where he helps bring up his eleven-year-old son, Ezra.

PLEASE NOTE: The date and location of this event has been changed. This event was originally scheduled to take place at International House on Thursday the 12th, but will now be held at 57th Street Books on Friday the 13th.

Let's dance! Maryann will join us for a big book release party to celebrate
"My Dance Recital". Grab your tutu and head on down here for a signed copy. Prizes for best dance outfit!

Feeling dead? Stumble over to 57th Street Books for Zombie Fun Night! Carrie Ryan's post-zombie-apocalypse young adult novel, The Forest of Hands & Teeth, inspired what is sure to be our most brain dead event yet. Come moan with us over zombie games and trivia while vying to win your very own remote ... (more)control zombie! Edibles will be provided. Ages 13 & up welcome. Given the intrinsic danger of Zombies, small children should NOT attend.

March 1st marks the 15th anniversary of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning open gays from the military. New attention has focused on this explosive culture war issue, as Democrats renew promises to lift the ban, perhaps as soon as this year.
 
With UNFRIENDLY FIRE: How the Gay Ban Undermines ... (more)the Military and Weakens America, Dr. Nathaniel Frank, the mostly widely-recognized expert on gays in the military and the writer who broke the story of the firing of gay Arabic linguists, has written the definitive story of “don’t ask, don’t tell” at a pivotal moment in the debate on gay service.  Dr. Frank, an historian and Senior Research Fellow at the Palm Center, has spent ten years explaining the ins and outs of this policy on television, radio, blogs and in print, and now more than ever, his expertise is in demand to help the nation understand this complex, fast-moving issue.
 
Based on hundreds of exclusive interviews, this much-anticipated book reveals behind-the-scenes discussions by the top players responsible for the current policy, and shows how a campaign of misinformation by military officials and the religious right conspired to steamroll the gay ban into place. UNFRIENDLY FIRE also answers pressing questions people are now asking about what lies ahead: How is the current policy really working? How do gay and straight troops currently get along? What happened when other nations lifted their gay bans? What will happen if the U.S. follows suit?  And more.
The new book shows that:
·         Military officials admit they misrepresented the threat posed by gays to unit cohesion, while minimizing the true source of resistance to gay service: religious and cultural opposition to homosexuality.
·         Evidence was repeatedly concealed or suppressed by the military when research concluded there was no rationale for the gay ban.
·         The team of military generals that created “don’t ask, don’t tell” did not even understand what “sexual orientation” meant when they were tasked with formulating the policy. The general who headed that team now opposes the policy and admits in the book that the group “didn’t have any empirical data” about gay service and its position was based on fear, politics and prejudice.
·         The former Navy Judge Advocate General reversed his support for a gay ban and now calls the policy a “moral passing of the buck.”
·         Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff circulated an inflammatory anti-gay video produced by the religious right, and used it to argue that openly gay service would undermine the military.
 
Clearly and lucidly argued, UNFRIENDLY FIRE is a lively and compelling narrative that is sure to play an important role in the debate over this policy.  As a new presidential administration takes office, and our country’s military commitments around the globe continue to expand, the issue of gays serving in the military is certain to be a key topic of debate. Join Dr. Frank at Lambda Rising in DC as he answers your questions and discusses his insightful work on this vital issue. NATHANIEL FRANK is a senior research fellow at the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and teaches history on the adjunct faculty at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.  His publications on gays in the military and other topics have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Slate, the Los Angles Times, The Huffington Post, and other publications.  His research and opinions have been cited on the Congressional floor and in syndicated columns, the blogosphere, the New York Post, The National Review Online, the AP, and other venues.

Mahmood Mamdani is Lehman Professor of Anthropology and Political Science and Director of the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University. One of Foreign Policy’s top 100 global public intellectuals, Mamdani is the author of such recent notable books as Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa ... (more)and the Legacy of Late Colonialism; When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and Genocide in Rwanda; and Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, The Cold War, and the Roots of Terror.

Beryl Satter was raised in Chicago, Skokie, and Evanston, Illinois. A graduate of the Harvard Divinity School and the Yale American studies program, she is the author of Each Mind a Kingdom and the chair of the Department of History at Rutgers University in Newark. For her work in progress on Family ... (more)Properties, Satter received a J. Anthony Lukas citation. She lives in New York City.

This season of Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman will be held and recorded at the Harold Washington Library in the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium. The interviews will then be broadcast the Sunday following the interview on 98.7WFMT radio from 12.00pm-1.00pm. Reservations for Writers on the Record ... (more)are no longer necessary.

“Riveting from page one”, hails Booklist about Blake Bailey’s Cheever: A Life, calling it “the literary biography of the season.” A front page New York Times Book Review, calls Blake Bailey’s work a “stunningly detailed biography, exploring step by stumbling step the crooked path that Cheever ... (more)followed….” John Cheever was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and National Medal of Honor. But who was John Cheever, and why has his life and work eluded biographers for so long? Blake Bailey is the first biographer to be granted unprecedented access to Cheever’s primary sources, including his massive journal, of which only a fraction has ever been published.
Bailey portrays Cheever as a writer in conflict: a proud Yankee who told tales of his lineage while deploring the stifling provincialism of his family circle; a dire alcoholic who recovered to write what some consider his greatest work, Falconer; a bisexual who concealed his true sexual desires. We learn about Cheever’s rivalry with J.D. Salinger, his troubled relationship with his daughter, and his ongoing struggle with alcoholism that nearly cost him his life.Blake Bailey is the editor of a two-volume edition of Cheever’s work, published in 2009 by The Library of America. His last book, A Tragic Honesty, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He received a Guggenheim fellowship in 2005, and his articles and reviews have appeared in Slate, The New York Times, the New York Observer, and elsewhere. Discussion and Book Signing: Tuesday, April 7 at 7 p.m.

This season of Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman will be held and recorded at the Harold Washington Library in the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium. The interviews will then be broadcast the Sunday following the interview on 98.7WFMT radio from 12.00pm-1.00pm. Reservations for Writers on the Record ... (more)are no longer necessary.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Malibu is extremely excited to present Greg Mortenson as he signs his wonderful, world-changing book Three Cups of Tea!!!**PLEASE NOTE*** Due to Mr. Mortenson's very busy schedule, he will only be able to sign books until 2:30pm. Please plan accordingly and stop by early!About ... (more)the Author:
Greg Mortenson is the co-founder (with Dr. Jean Hoerni) and Executive Director of nonprofit Central Asia Institute. Since a 1993 climb on Pakistan's K2, he has dedicated his life to promote community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mortenson is also founder of Pennies For Peace and co-author of the #1 New York Times best-seller, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School At A Time.

Mahmood Mamdani is Lehman Professor of Anthropology and Political Science and Director of the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University. One of Foreign Policy’s top 100 global public intellectuals, Mamdani is the author of such recent notable books as Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa ... (more)and the Legacy of Late Colonialism; When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and Genocide in Rwanda; and Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, The Cold War, and the Roots of Terror.

This season of Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman will be held and recorded at the Harold Washington Library in the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium. The interviews will then be broadcast the Sunday following the interview on 98.7WFMT radio from 12.00pm-1.00pm. Reservations for Writers on the Record ... (more)are no longer necessary.

Local author and Co-Op member Susan Fine will join us in celebrating the release of her debut young adult novel, Initiation.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland is excited to present award-winning author Elana Dykewomon as she discusses and signs her new novel, Risk, a beautifully told story that spans the years from the mid-eighties to
the post-9/11 world and explores changing times and values in America.
This event is free and ... (more)all are welcome and encouraged to attend!For more on Elana, visit her website.

DIESEL, A Bookstore in Brentwood is pleased to welcome Barbara Isenberg as she discusses and signs Conversations with Frank Gehry. Culling the most candid, revealing, and entertaining interviews from her twenty years of talking with Frank Gehry, Isenberg gives us an intimate portrait of one of our most ... (more)influential working architects, and one who has left an indelible imprint on the Los Angeles skyline.

DIESEL, A Bookstore in Oakland is pleased to welcome David Carr as he discusses and signs The Night of the Gun: A Reporter investigates the Darkest Story of His Life. His Own. This event is free and all are welcome!

This season of Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman will be held and recorded at the Harold Washington Library in the Cindy Pritzker Auditorium. The interviews will then be broadcast the Sunday following the interview on 98.7WFMT radio from 12.00pm-1.00pm. Reservations for Writers on the Record ... (more)are no longer necessary. The fifth season has been generously underwritten by www.maevenchronicles.com.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood is pleased to present Gregg Hurwitz as he discusses and signs his new novel, Trust No One. This event is free and all are welcome and encouraged to attend!About the Author:Gregg Hurwitz is the critically acclaimed, internationally bestselling author of The Tower, Minutes ... (more)to Burn, Do No Harm, The Kill Clause, The Program, Troubleshooter, Last Shot, and most recently, The Crime Writer, an instant international bestseller that was shortlisted for best novel of the year by International Thriller Writers and nominated for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. His novels have been feature selections for all four major literary book clubs, chosen as Book Sense Picks, and translated into fifteen languages. He has written screenplays for Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Paramount Studios, MGM, and ESPN, developed TV series for Warner Studios, written Wolverine, Punisher, and Foolkiller for Marvel, and published numerous academic articles on Shakespeare. He has taught fiction writing in the USC English Department, and guest lectured for UCLA, and for Harvard in the United States and Europe. In the course of researching his thrillers, he has sneaked onto demolition ranges with Navy SEALs, swam with sharks in the Galápagos, and gone undercover into mind-control cults.Hurwitz grew up in the Bay Area. While completing a BA from Harvard and a master's from Trinity College, Oxford in Shakespearean tragedy, he wrote his first novel. He was the undergraduate scholar-athlete of the year at Harvard for his pole-vaulting exploits, and played college soccer in England, where he was a Knox fellow. He now lives in L.A. where he continues to play soccer, frequently injuring himself.

Diesel, A Bookstore in Malibu is excited to welcome Norman Ollestad to the shop to discuss and sign his book, Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival. This event is free and all are welcome and encouraged to attend!

I loved this book and have recommended to as many people as I can think of. I hope you enjoy it too and I think we'll have a great discussion.

The stars are right for the return of the H.P. Lovecraft Memorial Ice Cream Social! Hear tales of unspeakable horror, see (and possibly win) forbidden tomes and strange artefacts, and partake of frozen confections colder than the howling void!Come - and TEST THE LIMITS OF YOUR SANITY!

From the Berlin Airlift to the Iraq War, the UN Security Council has stood at the heart of global politics. Part public theater, part smoke-filled backroom, the Council has enjoyed notable successes and suffered ignominious failures, but it has always provided a space for the five great powers to sit ... (more)down together. Five to Rule Them All tells the inside story of this remarkable diplomatic creation. Drawing on extensive research, including dozens of interviews with serving and former ambassadors on the Council, the book chronicles political battles and personality clashes as it opens the closed doors of its meeting room. What emerges here is a revealing portrait of the most powerful diplomatic body in the world.David L. Bosco is Assistant Professor in the School of International Service, American University. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he is a former Senior Editor at Foreign Policy and has been a political analyst and journalist in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and deputy director of a joint United Nations-NATO project in Sarajevo. His writings have appeared in a variety of publications, including the Washington Post, Slate, the New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal-Europe, The American Prospect, and the American Scholar. He has provided commentary and analysis for CNN, National Public Radio, Voice of America, and other outlets.

What do Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau have in common with the inventors of barbed wire, margarine and the washing machine? They were all deeply moved by their time spent in the beautiful Monadnock region of southwest New Hampshire. Inspired by beloved local storyteller Fritz Wetherbee, ... (more)Historical Society of Cheshire County director Alan F. Rumrill collected their stories in his series, "Monadnock Moments", broadcast on Keene radio station WKNE from 1985 to 2005. Here he has gathered one hundred of his most interesting vignettes and paired them with historic images, chronicling the lives of successful businessmen, politicians and soldiers, and spinning tales of disaster, murder and adventure that all had their roots in towns like Keene, Stoddard, Walpole and Jaffrey. Entertaining, informative and often surprising, these snippets of history capture the essence of southwest New Hampshire.

Renown throughout the nation as an activist and educator as well as a poet, Dr. Madhubuti has been a pivotal figure in the development of a strong Black literary tradition. Emerging from the Civil Rights and Black Arts movements of the 1960s and continuing to the present, he helped define and sustain ... (more)a new energy sweeping across America. With “healing words of wisdom and dynamic action plans rooted in history,” his poetry gave words to the conflicted emotions of many.As the most comprehensive collection of Dr. Madhubuti’s poetry, Liberation Narratives: New and Collected Poems 1966-2009 revisits work from popular volumes such as Don’t Cry, Scream (1969); Earthquakes and Sunrise Missions (1984); Black Men (1991); Tough Notes: A Healing Call for Creating Exceptional Black Men (2002); and Run Toward Fear (2004), while a section titled “Liberation Narratives” offers new poems for 2009. Included is a tribute to the late Studs Turkel, repudiations of the Bush administration, musings on the election of America’s first Black president, and a number of other gems.