Pete Buttigieg | Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future

Tue, February 19, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15.00
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In conversation with Tamala Edwards , anchor, 6ABC Action News morning edition The multifaceted, 36-year-old progressive mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg is a Rhodes Scholar and Harvard graduate. Nearly a decade ago he left a successful career in business to return to his…

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The Wagner Free Institute of Science presents Stimulating Molecules: The Biochemistry of Euphoria

Wed, February 20, 2019 6:15 P.M.
Independence Library

Every day, many of us mess with our brains. We drink coffee to wake up, we smoke cigarettes as a break, we eat spicy food to please our palates, and we have a drink to unwind at the end of the day. This course will be  biochemist Professor  Joseph B. Rucker’s  view of how…

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Deborah Lipstadt | Event Cancelled

Wed, February 20, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Irvine Auditorium | University of Pennsylvania | 3401 Spruce St. | Philadelphia, PA 19104

Cost: $40 Orchestra, $35 Mezzanine, $30 Balcony

This event has been cancelled. A refund will be issued for the ticket purchase and handling fees.

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Steve Luxenberg | Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America’s Journey from Slavery to Segregation

Thu, February 21, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

A 30-year writer and senior editor at The Washington Post , Steve Luxenberg has overseen reportage that has won a host of awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes for explanatory journalism. He is the author of Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey in a Family Secret , the tale of his eponymous aunt who…

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The Wagner Free Institute of Science presents Stimulating Molecules: The Biochemistry of Euphoria

Wed, February 27, 2019 6:15 P.M.
Independence Library

Every day, many of us mess with our brains. We drink coffee to wake up, we smoke cigarettes as a break, we eat spicy food to please our palates, and we have a drink to unwind at the end of the day. This course will be  biochemist Professor  Joseph B. Rucker’s  view of how…

Adult Other Great Programs General Research

First Friday Genealogy

Fri, March 1, 2019 12:00 P.M.
Independence Library

Our genealogy roundtable is held the first Friday of each month from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.  All are welcome regardless of experience from beginners to advanced. Bring your questions, brick walls, and successes and share with an enthusiastic group of amateur genealogists.    

Adult Discussion and Participation Genealogy General Research

Frans de Waal | Mama's Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves

Thu, March 14, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15.00
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Esteemed primatologist Frans de Waal is the author of The Bonobo and the Atheist , a “tour de force” ( Nature ) exploration of the biological roots of human morality found in primate social emotions, including empathy, reciprocity, and fairness. One of Time ’s 100 Most…

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Adam Rutherford | Humanimal: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature A New Evolutionary History

Thu, March 21, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

“A heady amalgam of science, history, a little bit of anthropology and plenty of nuanced, captivating storytelling” ( The New York Times Book Review ), Adam Rutherford’s A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived delves into the ages-spanning story of our species through the…

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Albert Woodfox | Solitary: Unbroken by Four Decades in Solitary Confinement. My Story of Transformation and Hope

Tue, March 26, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15.00
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In conversation with award-winning journalist Tracey Matisak. Falsely accused and convicted of a 1972 robbery in which a white guard was killed, Albert Woodfox served more than four decades in solitary confinement in Louisiana’s notoriously brutal Angola prison. Finding solidarity and…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Ticketed Series African American Author Events Biography & Autobiography Body, Mind & Spirit General Research Social Science History

Valerie Jarrett | Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward

Wed, April 3, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $50/$35 couple + book/single + book
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AUDITORIUM SOLD OUT. IN-HOUSE SIMULCAST TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE. Couples Ticket “The ultimate Obama insider” ( New York Times ), Valerie Jarrett was the longest serving advisor in the 44th President’s administration. Born in Iran and raised in 1960s Chicago, Jarrett originally…

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Michael Dobbs | The Unwanted: America, Auschwitz, and a Village Caught In Between

Thu, April 4, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

A longtime foreign correspondent for The Washington Post , Michael Dobbs reported on some of the most important events of our time. His many books include Down with Big Brother: The Fall of the Soviet Empire , Saboteurs: The Nazi Raid on America , and One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev,…

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First Friday Genealogy

Fri, April 5, 2019 12:00 P.M.
Independence Library

Our genealogy roundtable is held the first Friday of each month from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.  All are welcome regardless of experience from beginners to advanced. Bring your questions, brick walls, and successes and share with an enthusiastic group of amateur genealogists.    

Adult Discussion and Participation Genealogy General Research

Robert A. Caro | Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing

Mon, April 8, 2019 12:00 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15.00
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In conversation with Dick Polman , "Writer in Residence" at the University of Pennsylvania, national political columnist at WHYY News and contributor to The Atlantic Standing at “the summit of American historical writing” ( Washington Post ), Robert Caro is the author of…

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Patricia Marx and Roz Chast | Why Don't You Write My Eulogy Now So I Can Correct It?: A Mother's Suggestions

Thu, April 11, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $43/$28 couple + book/single + book
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Couples Ticket A 30-year contributor to The New Yorker , Patricia Marx is the author of several books including Starting From Happy and Him Her Him Again the End of Him , both of which were Thurber Prize finalists. A former writer for Saturday Night Live and Rugrats , she has taught…

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Mary Norris | Greek to Me: Adventures of the Comma Queen

Mon, April 15, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $15.00
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“A rollicking adventure into the origins of the apostrophe, the proliferation of profanity in American culture, and everything in between” ( San Francisco Chronicle ), Mary Norris’s bestselling Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen was a raucous, cheery memoir about…

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Emily Bazelon | Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration

Thu, April 18, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

Emily Bazelon is the author of Sticks and Stones , “a humane and closely reported exploration” ( Wall Street Journal ) of school bullying and the empathetic steps students, parents, and teachers can take to mitigate this cruel phenomenon. A staff writer at The New York Times Magazine…

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Janny Scott | The Beneficiary: Fortune, Misfortune, and the Story of My Father

Mon, April 22, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

Janny Scott, a 15-year reporter for The New York Times , was part of a team that won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. She is also the author of the “meticulous” ( Washington Post ) biography A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother . She is the…

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Melinda Gates | The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World

Thu, April 25, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $47/$32 couple + book/single + book; $30/$24 simulcast—couple + book/single + book
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AUDITORIUM SOLD OUT; SIMULCAST SEATS AVAILABLE Couples Ticket Ranked by  Forbes  as the third most powerful woman in the world, Melinda Gates has been on a 20-year mission to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. Through her work as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda…

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First Friday Genealogy

Fri, May 3, 2019 12:00 P.M.
Independence Library

Our genealogy roundtable is held the first Friday of each month from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.  All are welcome regardless of experience from beginners to advanced. Bring your questions, brick walls, and successes and share with an enthusiastic group of amateur genealogists.    

Adult Discussion and Participation Genealogy General Research

Susan Hockfield | The Age of Living Machines: How Biology Will Build the Next Technology Revolution

Wed, May 8, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

The first woman and the first life scientist to head the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Susan Hockfield now serves as the esteemed institution’s President Emerita. A pioneering neuroscientist whose work included the discovery of a gene linked to the spread of brain cancer, she…

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