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MINNEAPOLIS PUBLIC LIBRARYenriching public libraries
in Minneapolis
300 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55401
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Listen to Past Lectures
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Talk of the Stacks:
Charles Baxter -- The
Soul Thief
Thursday, February 28, 2008,
7 PM
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of
Talk of the Stacks program, a reading series
at the Minneapolis Public Library exploring
contemporary literature and culture, sponsored
by The Friends of the Minneapolis Public
Library and U.S. Trust. This reading featured
author Charles Baxter.
In his 25-year career as a fiction writer,
Charles Baxter has established himself as
one of our great contemporary American
novelists. Perhaps best known for his
National Book Award-nominated The Feast of
Love (which will be released this fall as a
major motion picture starring Morgan
Freeman), Baxter is the author of four
novels, four collections of short stories,
three collections of poems, and a collection
of essays on fiction.
In his new novel, The Soul Thief, Baxter
delivers a beautifully wrought and
unexpected work of fiction about Nathaniel
Mason, a graduate student living in Buffalo,
who through a chain of illusive
relationships and complex events learns his
identity may in fact not be his own. Acutely
observed in its emotional and terrifying
detail, The Soul Thief explores the slippery
nature of identity in American culture.
|Download Audio|
55 minutes, 31 MB
Talk of the Stacks:
Chip Kidd -- The
Learners
Wednesday, February 27, 2008,
7 PM
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of
Talk of the Stacks program, a reading series
at the Minneapolis Public Library exploring
contemporary literature and culture, sponsored
by The Friends of the Minneapolis Public
Library and U.S. Trust. This reading featured
award-winning designer and author Chip Kidd.
In this recording, Kidd reads from his new
book, The Learners, and answers
audience questions. Portions of the
presentation that relied on visuals have
been edited from this audio-only podcast.
Award-winning graphic design pioneer Chip
Kidd is credited with changing the way
modern books are packaged. Having designed
more than 1,500 book covers and counting,
Kidd has been called him "the closest thing
to a rock star" in graphic design today by
USA Today. His work has been featured in
Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, The New
Republic, Time, The New York Times, Graphis,
ID magazine, and countless other
publications. With The Learners, the
fascinating follow-up to his national
bestselling debut The Cheese Monkeys, Kidd
again shows that his writing is every bit as
original and memorable as his celebrated
book jackets. This time, Kidd conjures up a
remarkable story about advertising,
electro-shock torture, suicide, a giant dog,
potato chips, and the Holocaust. Written in
sharp, witty prose, and peppered with
absorbing ruminations on the presence—and
importance—of graphic design in our everyday
lives, The Learners, is as entertaining as
it is thought provoking.
|Download Audio|
28 minutes, 16 MB
Talk of the Stacks:
Night Train and Other Ojibwe Stories:
A celebration of Writing and
Sisterhood with the Erdrichs
Tuesday, February 12, 2008, 7 PM
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of
Talk of the Stacks program, a reading series
at the Minneapolis Public Library exploring
contemporary literature and culture,
sponsored by The Friends of the Minneapolis
Public Library and U.S. Trust. This event
featured
Lise, Heid, and Louise Erdrich.
Sisters Lise, Heid, and
Louise Erdrich grew up together in Wahpeton,
ND (where their parents taught at the Bureau
of Indian Affairs school) and each of them
became accomplished writers. Coming together
for a rare public appearance in celebration
of Lise's debut story collection, Night
Train, the three sisters will discuss
their craft, life, and Native American
writing.
Lise is the author of
several children's books, including
Sacagawea and Bears Make Rock Soup:
And Other Stories. Her debut story
collection, Night Train, is hot off
the press from Coffee House. A sharp-humored
collection set in the small towns and
reservations of Northwestern Minnesota and
North Dakota, Night Train was described by
Sherman Alexie as "beautiful and rowdy, this
book challenged, entertained, thrilled and
scared me."
Heid is the author of
three collections of poetry, National
Monuments (forthcoming), The Mother's
Tongue, Fishing for Myth, as well as
co-editor of Sister Nations: Native
American Women on Community. Her books
have each been nominated for the Minnesota
Book Awards and she has received numerous
grants and honors. She co-founded the Turtle
Mountain Writing Workshop with her sister
Louise.
Louise is the author of
eight novels, including the National Book
Critics Circle Award-winning Love
Medicine and the National Book Award
Finalist The Last Report on the Miracles
at Little No Horse, as well as poetry,
children's books, and a memoir of early
motherhood, The Bluejay's Dance. She
owns a small independent bookstore,
BirchBark Books, in Minneapolis.
|Download Audio|
48 minutes, 28 MB
People's
University
Hmong in Minnesota
Presented by Dr. Chia Youyee Vang,
Assistant Professor of History at the
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Thursday, January 31, 2008, 7:00PM
DESCRIPTION:
This is a recording of The People's
University program, a free lecture series
offering classes at Minneapolis Public
Libraries, sponsored by The Friends of the
Minneapolis Public Library and Marquette
Financial Companies.
According to the 2000 census more than
42,000 Hmong live in Minnesota and today the
Twin Cities area has the largest number of
Hmong persons of any metropolitan area in
the nation. Dr. Vang, a refugee from Laos
and author of Hmong in Minnesota, will
recount the colorful, intricate history of
Hmong Minnesotans, many of whom were forced
to flee their homeland of Laos when the
communists seized power during the Vietnam
War in the mid-70s. Through personal stories
from immigrants, Vang will offer a unique
perspective into the lives of the Minnesota
Hmong population –- exploring the
immigrants' struggle to adjust to new
environments, build communities, maintain
cultural practices, and make their mark on
government policies and programs today.
|Download Audio|
77 minutes, 44 MB
People's
University
Backstage at Peer Gynt
Presented by artistic staff of the
Guthrie Theater
Thursday, January 24, 2008, 12:00PM
DESCRIPTION:
This is a recording of The People's
University program, a free lecture series
offering classes at Minneapolis Public
Libraries, sponsored by The Friends of the
Minneapolis Public Library and Marquette
Financial Companies.
This winter, the Guthrie Theater will
present Peer Gynt, a timeless and
rarely-produced masterpiece, with a newly
commissioned translation by prolific poet
and Minnesota native Robert Bly. Bold,
raucous, and satirically funny, this
charming fantasy play captures the
misadventures of the charismatic Peer Gynt
on a journey to find his place in the world.
Get the inside scoop on the newest
production of the Guthrie Theater when Carla
Steen (Literary Department) discusses the
text, Craig Pettigrew (Assistant Technical
Director) talks about building the set, the
Property Mistress discusses the props, and
Amy Schmidt (Costume Director) talks about
the costumes for this eagerly awaited
production. Moderated by Louise Chalfant,
Associate Director of Education and
Community Programs at the Guthrie Theater.
|Download Audio|
84 minutes, 50 MB
The Friends Holiday
Toast:
Kevin Kling -- The Dog Says How
Friday, December 7, 2007, 4 PM
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of
The Friends annual Holiday Toast featuring
Kevin Kling.
Kevin Kling is a storyteller, playwright,
and regular contributor to NPR's All Things
Considered. His plays have been seen at the
Guthrie Theater, Second Stage, Seattle Rep,
the Goodman Theater, the Spoleto Festival
and the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen,
Colorado.
For the 2007 Friends Holiday Toast, Kling
performed stories from his new debut book,
The Dog Says How, a collection of classic
and never-before-told stories about his
eclectic life - from hopping freight trains,
getting hit by lightning, performing his
banned play in Czechoslovakia, to growing up
in Minnesota. In Kling’s world, "the mundane
becomes magical, the fantastic becomes
accessible and through it all his profound
sense of curiosity about the world
transforms the everyday to the timeless"
(Queen Anne News).
|Download Audio|
54 minutes, 32 MB
Talk of the Stacks:
Bill
Holm -- The Windows of Brimnes: An American
in Iceland
Thursday, November 29, 2007,
7 PM
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of
Talk of the Stacks program, a reading series
at the Minneapolis Public Library exploring
contemporary literature and culture, sponsored
by The Friends of the Minneapolis Public
Library and U.S. Trust. This reading featured
Bill Holm.
Garrison Keillor
described Bill Holm as "The tallest radical
humorist in the Midwest and a truthful and
graceful writer.” The award-winning author
of nine books (both poetry and essays), Holm
lives in Minnesota half the year teaching at
Southwest State University and spends his
summers in Iceland on the Arctic Circle.
Poet, musician, and
polemicist Bill Holm brings us his most
ambitious book to date in the Windows of
Brimnes, a long essay that reflects on
the state of America today as seen from the
window of his home in the small fishing town
of Brimnes, Iceland. Holm contrasts
Iceland’s warmth, community, secularism,
pacifism, and love of nature and poetry with
America’s seemingly permanent state of war,
fundamentalism, and pervasive violence. Bill
Holm delivers a straightforward and often
comical reflection on the state of our
country today.
|Download Audio|
67 minutes, 33 MB
Talk of the Stacks:
Arvonne Fraser -- She's No Lady
Thursday, November 1, 2007, 7 PM
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of
Talk of the Stacks program, a reading series
at the Minneapolis Public Library exploring
contemporary literature and culture, sponsored
by The Friends of the Minneapolis Public
Library and U.S. Trust. This reading featured
Arvonne Fraser in conversation with Editor
Lori Sturdevant.
Arvonne Fraser is senior fellow emerita of the
Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
at the University of Minnesota, co-founder and
director of the Institute’s Center on Women
and Public Policy, former director of the
International Women’s Rights Action Watch, and
former ambassador to the U.N. Commission on
the Status of Women. Political activist,
prolific leader, and founding mother of the
women’s movement, Fraser is the author of
countless publications, articles, and books.
Now in her newest work, She’s No Lady,
she brings us a spirited memoir of a Minnesota
farm girl who became founding mother of the
worldwide women’s movement. Recounting her
Depression-era upbringing, the early days of
the DFL Party, her marriage to Don (former
Congressman and Minneapolis Mayor), and her
career in the non-profit sector, Fraser let’s
the reader into her fascinating and inspiring
life. In celebration of the publication of
this historic memoir, Lori Sturdevant (editor
and friend) will join Arvonne on stage in a
conversation about life, politics and
everything in between.
|Download Audio|
58 minutes, 33 MB
Talk of the Stacks:
Steve Almond -- (Not That You Asked):
Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions
Thursday, October 11, 2007, 7 PM
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of
Talk of the Stacks program, a reading series
at the Minneapolis Public Library exploring
contemporary literature and culture,
sponsored by The Friends of the Minneapolis
Public Library and U.S. Trust. This reading
featured Steve Almond, author of (Not
that You Asked)..
Steve Almond is the
author of Candyfreak (named a Best
Book of 2004 by Booksense, Amazon.com, Time
Out and Library Journal), My Life in
Heavy Metal, The Evil B.B. Chow, and
Which Brings Me to You, co-written with
Julianna Baggott. The San Francisco
Chronicle described Almond’s language as
“rendered in precise strokes with metaphors
so original and spot-on that they read like
epiphanies.”
In (NOT THAT YOU
ASKED), Almond gives us a provocative,
universally offending, and wickedly
entertaining collection of essays that
explore the moral dilemmas of our age –
tackling topics such as chest waxing, Kurt
Vonnegut, ham at Chanukah, Oprah’s Book
Club, homoerotic nature of professional
sports, reality television, and much more.
This program contains
some adult language.
|Download Audio|
58 minutes, 33 MB
People's
University
Taking a Global Temperature: A Case for
Climate Literacy in the 21st Century
Presented by Frank Niepold, Climate
Education Coordinator at National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration
Tuesday, October 2, 2007, 7:00PM
DESCRIPTION:
This is a recording of The People's
University program, a free lecture series
offering classes at Minneapolis Public
Libraries, sponsored by The Friends of the
Minneapolis Public Library and Marquette
Financial Companies.
U.S. and global annual temperatures are now
approximately 1.0 degrees warmer than at the
start of the 20th century and the past nine
years have all been among the 25 warmest
years on record for the contiguous United
States. Improved satellite and climate
observation technologies, coupled with media
interest and the internet, have allowed
scientists to share their findings with a
broader public audience. But do we, the
general public, have the skills we need to
make sense of these global changes? Learn
about the ground-breaking work by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration to ensure resource managers,
policy makers, and the general public
understand how to cope with climate
variability and change.
|Download Audio|
87 minutes, 50 MB
Talk of the Stacks:
Per Petterson -- Out Stealing Horses
Thursday, September 27, 2007, 7:30PM
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of Talk of the Stacks
program, a reading series at the Minneapolis Public Library exploring
contemporary literature and culture, sponsored by The Friends of the Minneapolis
Public Library and U.S. Trust. This reading featured
Per Petterson, author of Out Stealing
Horses.
With his fifth book,
Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson has
become an international literary sensation.
Out Stealing Horses, published by the
Twin Cities’ Graywolf Press, has won
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award,
Norwegian Booksellers Prize, the Independent
Foreign Fiction Prize, and has been
translated into 24 languages. The New
York Times calls it, “a gripping account
of such originality as to expand the
reader’s own experience of life.”
Out Stealing Horses
is the story of Trond, a man who has
settled into a rustic cabin in eastern
Norway to live the rest of his life with
quiet deliberation. A meeting with his only
neighbor, however, forces him out of
isolation to reflect on a fateful childhood
summer.
|Download Audio|
43 minutes, 20 MB
Talk of the Stacks: Steven Pinker --
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a
Window Into Human Nature
Thursday, September 20,
2007, 7PM
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of Talk of the Stacks
program, a reading series at the Minneapolis Public Library exploring
contemporary literature and culture, sponsored by The Friends of the Minneapolis
Public Library and U.S. Trust. This reading featured
Steven Pinker author of The Stuff of
Thought.
Steven Pinker is one of
TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People
in the World Today” and a two-time Pulitzer
Prize finalist. A professor of psychology at
Harvard and lecturer at Stanford and MIT,
his books include The Language Instinct, How
the Mind Works, and The Blank Slate. A
frequent contributor to Time, The New York
Times, The New Republic, and other
publications, Pinker serves on the Usage
Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary.
In his newest
book, The Stuff of Thought, Pinker
explores the mysteries of human nature
through our use of words. With irreverent
wit, elegant style, and examples from
popular culture and everyday life, Pinker
takes on a wide range of scientific and
everyday questions -- How does language
affect thought? Why is bulk email called
spam? Why does the FCC get so riled up about
salty language? What do the names we give
our babies reveal about ourselves and our
society? Why do romantic comedies get such
mileage out of the ambiguities of dating?
What does swearing reveal about human
emotions?
Please note: Although
used in an academic context, this program
does contain strong language.
|Download Audio| 89 minutes,
41 MB
A Joint Public Hearing of the Minnesota State
Senate Transit Subdivision and the Minnesota
State House Transportation & Transit Policy
Sub-Committee
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
(NOTE: This event is
not sponsored by The Friends of the
Minneapolis Public Library. It is provided
here as a public service.)
DESCRIPTION: The Minnesota Senate
Transit Subdivision and the House
Transportation Policy & Transit Subcommittee
held a joint public hearing on the
reconstruction of the I-35W Bridge over the
Mississippi River.
The hearing was held at
the Minneapolis Public Library. The
Minnesota Department of Transportation made a
brief presentation and public testimony was
heard. Participants included Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, members of the
Senate Transit Subdivision and
House Transportation Policy and Transit Subcommittee.
Due to the number of
microphones used, this recording contains some
background sound.
|Download Audio|
Part 1 of 2. 80 minutes, 65 MB
|Download Audio|
Part 2 of 2. 62 minutes, 50 MB
Talk of the Stacks:
"Reading, Writing and Reviewing: 25 Years at the Washington Post Book World"
with Michael Dirda
Thursday, July 5, 2007
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of Talk of the Stacks
program, a reading series at the Minneapolis Public Library exploring
contemporary literature and culture, sponsored by The Friends of the Minneapolis
Public Library and U.S. Trust. This reading featured Pulitzer Prize-Winning
Critic Michael Dirda.
"Michael Dirda is the winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for
criticism. He has been an editor and writer for The Washington Post Book World
for the past twenty-five years. A Fulbright Fellowship recipient, Dirda received
his bachelor's degree in English from Oberlin College and his doctorate in
comparative literature from Cornell University. Dirda is the author of two
collections of essays (Readings: Essays and Literary Entertainments and Bound to
Please), a memoir (An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland) and a guide to
reading and its life lessons (Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life). "It's
hard to think of another writer who loves books so passionately, who has such
broad tastes and impeccably high standards -- and who writes about literature
with such intelligence, generosity and enthusiasm. Michael Dirda is a cultural
treasure." - Francine Prose A summer book affair not-to-be-missed."
|Download Audio| 65 Minutes, 28 MB
The People's University
The Guantanamo Bay Challenge: Finding
the Balance between Our Nation's Security
and Our Nation's Ideals
Co-presented by James
Dorsey, a trial lawyer with the Minneapolis
law firm of Fredrikson & Byron and founder
and past president of Minnesota Advocates
for Human Rights
Nicole Moen, a
commercial litigator with Fredrikson & Byron
and translator
Thursday, June 14, 2007
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of The People's
University program, a free lecture series offering classes at Minneapolis Public
Libraries, sponsored by The Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library and
Marquette Financial Companies.
"Learn the truths about Guantanamo Bay
from two attorneys on the front lines of
this human rights issue. Along with other
colleagues, attorneys Dorsey and Moen, currently represent an Algerian detainee
held in Guantanamo Bay in Zemiri v. Bush.
They have visited their client in Guantanamo
Bay four times, most recently in March 2007.
Hear about whothe
detainees are (how many detainees are being
held, where they are from, where they were picked up); how they
are being treated (the
nature of the prison facilities, the
interrogation techniques
used, and the effectiveness of and rationale
for those techniques); and what legal
recourse is available. The presentation will include
photos of the prison and sketches of the
interrogation procedures. "
|Download
Audio| 135 Minutes, 43 MB
Talk of the Stacks:
Unexpected Life of Books with Sven Birkerts, Lewis Buzbee and Gail See
Thursday June 7, 2007; 7 PM
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of Talk of the Stacks
program, a reading series at the Minneapolis Public Library exploring
contemporary literature and culture, sponsored by The Friends of the Minneapolis
Public Library and U.S. Trust. This reading featured Graywolf Press authors,
Sven Birkerts and Lewis Buzbee, and moderator Gail See, former
Bookcase owner and president of the American Booksellers Association.
"Explore the unexpected life of books
with two award-winning authors and literary critics -- . Both started their
careers as booksellers and ultimately became authors themselves. How
did their passion for books become an all consuming career? What books have
changed their lives? Will the "book" survive? Moderated by Gail See, the
authors will discuss the role books have played in their lives and in our
society.
Sven Birkerts is the editor of AGNI magazine and
has taught writing at Harvard University, Emerson College, Amherst, and most
recently Mount Holyoke College. He is the author of seven books, including An
Artificial Wilderness: Essays on 20th Century Literature, The Gutenberg
Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age, Readings and most
recentlyThe Reading Life: Books for the Ages from Graywolf Press. His
reviews regularly appear in The New York Times Book Review, The New Republic,
Esquire, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Mirabella, Parnassus, and The Yale Review.
Lewis Buzbee is the author of Fliegelman's Desire, After the Gold Rush,
and The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop. His work has appeared in Harper's, GQ,
New York Times Book Review, Paris Review, Best American Poetry, and
elsewhere. A bookseller and publisher for 20 years, he's taught writing for the
last 7 years on the faculty of the MFA Program for Writers at University of San
Francisco. His next novel, his first for younger readers, Steinbeck's Ghost,
will be published in the fall of 2008. It's all about a 13 year-old boy who
tries to save the Salinas public library from closing."
|Download
Audio| 61 Minutes, 28 MB
Talk of the Stacks: Heather McElhatton
Tuesday May 15, 2007; 7 PM
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of Talk of the Stacks
program, a reading series at the Minneapolis Public Library exploring
contemporary literature and culture, sponsored by The Friends of the Minneapolis
Public Library and U.S. Trust. This reading featured Heather McElhatton reading
from her debut novel, Pretty Little Mistakes, an introduction by humorist
and playwright Kevin Kling and guitar by Robert Bell.
Heather McElhatton's original debut novel, Pretty Little Mistakes, is a smart, edgy, and completely addictive interactive novel for adults with more than 150 possible endings. The book asks is it destiny or decision that controls our fate? From the first choice of what to do after school, you can decide which of your dreams to chase. Should you travel abroad or get a master's degree? Marry or stay single? Become an artist, an entrepreneur, a homemaker, a doctor, or a drug dealer? McElhatton sews together hundreds of lives inside this one truly original book. "In real life you can't go back and do your life over -- but in Pretty Little Mistakes, you can."
McElhatton is an independent producer for Minnesota Public Radio and Public Radio International. Her commentaries and stories are regularly heard on This American Life, Marketplace, Weekend America, Sound Money, and The Savvy Traveler. In the fall, she will appear on Ira Glass's television version of This American Life slated to premier on Showtime.
|Download
Audio| 56 Minutes, 26 MB
A Celebration of Minnesota Writers
Friday May 4, 2007; 7 PM
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of
The Friends of
the Minneapolis Public Library's Celebration of Minnesota Writers. 2007
Minnesota Book Award Finalists in fiction and creative non-fiction genres read
and The Rake Publisher Tom Bartel emceed the event. Participating finalist
authors were:
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, CREATIVE NONFICTION & MEMOIR (Caroline
Burau, Answering 911; Mary Rose O'Reilley, The Love of
Impermanent Things; Matthew Sanford, Waking; Diane Wilson, Spirit
Car: Journey to a Dakota Past)
GENRE FICTION (Brian Freeman, Stripped; Roger
Stelljes, The St. Paul Conspiracy)
FICTION & SHORT STORY (Alicia Conroy, Lives of
Mapmakers; Patti Frazee, Cirkus; and Maureen Millea Smith, When
Charlotte Comes Home)
|Download
Audio| 81 Minutes, 38 MB
Favorite Poem Celebrity Reading
Thursday, April 19, 2007; 12 PM
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of
The Friends of
the Minneapolis Public Library's Favorite Poem Celebrity Reading
in celebration National Poetry Month and National Library Week.
Now in its 6th year
-- after a two-year hiatus -- this program is an outgrowth of former U.S. Poet
Laureate Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project, which asks Americans of all
walks of life to share their favorite poems for public audiences. Emceed by The
Friends Board Vice President, Glenn Miller. Participating
celebrities included: Andrew
Zimmern; Host of Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel & Food
Critic, Amelia
Santaniello, WCCO Evening News Anchor; Ta-coumba
Aiken, Public artist and muralist; Brad Childress, Vikings Coach;
Nate Dungan, Lead vocalist of Trailer Trash; Lee-Ann Stephens, Minnesota Teacher
of the Year; Scott
Seekins, Artist; and Kerri
Miller, Host of MPR Midmorning.
|Download
Audio| 35 minutes, 15 MB
Talk of the Stacks: Laurel Poetry Collective
Thursday, April 12, 2007; 7 pm
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of Talk of the Stacks
program, a reading series at the Minneapolis Public Library exploring
contemporary literature and culture, sponsored by The Friends of the Minneapolis
Public Library and U.S. Trust. This reading featured the
Laurel Poetry Collective, a gathering of 22 accomplished poets and graphic
artists dedicated to publishing affordable books, chapbooks, and broadsides.
Founded in 2002, its four year charter has been to publish a book and a
broadside by each of its twenty poet members -- as well as yearly anthologies.
Their joint accomplishments as artists and individuals are both astounding and
diverse. Members of the collective have published books and received numerous
literary and book arts awards; their work has appeared in national magazines,
anthologies and literary journals. Not only are they accomplished poets, they
are also psychologists, visual artists, professors, actors, singers,
translators, coffee shop owners, journalists, illustrators, playwrights, and
much more.
This special Talk of the Stacks event will mark
the completion of the Laurel Poetry Collective's four-year mission.
|Download
Audio| 87 minutes, 32 MB
The People's University
"The Marshall Plan and Its Meanings: Europe 1947 -- Iraq 2007"
Presented by Neil Baldwin, Distinguished Visiting Professor of History,
Montclair (NJ) State University
March 29, 2007
DESCRIPTION: This is a recording of The People's
University program, a free lecture series offering classes at Minneapolis Public
Libraries, sponsored by The Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library and
Marquette Financial Companies. This lecture explored the following: The current administration has made many analogies between the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe following the end of World War II and a purported economic “Marshall Plan” for Iraq. Best-selling author and historian Dr. Baldwin will discuss whether these parallels are valid or politically expedient. Can re-integrating democracy into a Western culture be anything like indoctrinating an age-old, oil-rich, non-Western civilization? Join Dr. Baldwin as he examines the practices of today’s global superpower and considers to what extent all modern wars -- and their imagined aftermaths -- are not alike. This lecture is presented in celebration of the 100th annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians.
|Download
Audio| 79 minutes, 29 MB |
|
