CLS Zoom Book Club: Underland by Robert Macfarlane
2020-04-29 10:30 - 11:30 (America/New_York) | SC
CLS Zoom Book Club: Underland by Robert Macfarlane
For this meeting, we will be reading Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane. Diana Hambleton and Laura Mina will lead the group with some fantastic guests. This book is rich and layered. Though we will be reading it completely and discussing all of it, please feel free to read from it what you’d like and join us with your thoughts!
Underland has received myriad accolades, among them are: The New York Times’ “100 Notable Books of the Year,” NPR’s “Favorite Books of 2019,” and The Guardian’s “100 Best Books of the 21st Century.”
Please RSVP. To do so, call 843-723-9912 or email dreutter@charlestonlibrarysociety.org

Zoom Lecture Series: Josh Singer & Adam Parker
2020-04-30 16:30 - 17:30
The Library Society presents – from the comfort and safety of your own homes – an opportunity to hear from Academy Award winning screenwriter Josh Singer in conversation with Post and Courier’s Adam Parker! This event is free and open to the public, but requires an RSVP. To RSVP, click here.
Although Josh Singer graduated with honors in mathematics and economics from Yale, went on to Harvard for joint Law/MBA degrees, he chose a career that used his great talents with the English language – to write. His first major job in the entertainment industry was as an editor and writer for the hit TV series, The West Wing, and from there he blossomed as a screenwriter, winning Best Oscar and Best Original Screenplay for the movie, SPOTLIGHT in 2016. Singer’s other screenwriting credits include The Fifth Estate (2013), The Post (2017), and First Man (2018).
Josh and the Post and Courier’s Adam Parker will discuss journalism and movie-making through screenwriting and how both have been impacted by our current pandemic.
This event is free and open to the public, but requires an RSVP. To RSVP, click on the link below and fill out the form. All those who respond will receive an email on Wednesday, April 29th with the link and password to the Zoom meeting!
CLICK HERE TO RSVP

Zoom Speaker Series: Jerry Mitchell – Wine & Wine Books
2020-05-21 16:30 - 17:30
Join us as Jerry Mitchell, CLS Board President, presents a lecture perfect for an at home happy hour! A book collector for more than half a century, Jerry will explain how wine books have come to form a genre that almost defies cataloging, ranging from the useful tasting notes of a professional and the biographical confessions of a winemaker to the claims of a physician that the beverage cures all known ills. He shares stories about how wine is discussed in plays, in poetry, in cookbooks, and in history. He will describe how he came to collect wine books and will read from some of his favorite wine writers. An RSVP is required for this event. To RSVP, click here.
If you’re looking for “Wine pairings” to imbibe during this “Happy Hour” program, look no further! And we suggest you support some of our favorite local shops, both supplying curbside pick-up — Bin 152 or Graft Wine Shop.
– An off-dry Riesling is the perfect pairing for anyone bitter for a day at the beach, but has been settling for their backyard…
– A floral, fruity rosé can surprise you when pairing with some of your favorite take-away Italian pasta or pizza…
-A Pinot Noir can pair with a lot. So, if you’re avoiding a trek to the grocery by opting for cleaning out your pantry of outdated, never consumed items, go with this malleable red.Mitchell

A Summer with Southern Authors: David Cox, Robert Cox, & Maud Cox
2020-05-28 16:30 - 17:30
The Charleston Library Society happily announces the launch of a community partnership with Evening Post Books & Buxton Books. Beginning this summer, we will offer substantive, informative and entertaining “virtual” programs until the Library Society can resume onsite gatherings. Convening every other Thursday at 4:30PM, the series will present a diverse group of Southern Authors as they discuss their works and the influence of the South in their worlds.
Join David Cox, Robert Cox, and Maud Cox as they discuss their book, Dirty Secrets, Dirty War, with Polly Buxton, Pierre Manigault, and Mitch Pugh from the Post and Courier in this digital event addressing journalistic freedom in South America. An RSVP is required to attend this event. To RSVP, click here.
All attendees will receive an email invitation to the Zoom event on Wednesday, May 27th. For any questions, contact Dutch Reutter at dreutter@charlestonlibrarysociety.org
ABOUT THE BOOK:
From 1976-1983, an estimated 30,000 people disappeared in Argentina. They were victims of the “Dirty War” – a brutal campaign designed by the government to root out possible subversives. Those suspected of being dissidents were kidnapped and taken to secret detention centers. Most were tortured and then killed – never seen again.
Robert J. Cox, editor of the Buenos Aires Herald, did what few others were willing to do – he told the truth about what was happening. Every day his newspaper reported on the kidnappings and killings. He challenged those in power – asking questions and demanding answers. Cox’s commitment to reporting the truth made him a hero to the families of the disappeared, but an enemy of the state.
This is the remarkable story of one man’s courage in the face of adversity. It is the story of a man dedicated to protecting the freedom of the press and to protecting his family. It is the story of those who disappeared and the man who stayed in order to tell their stories.
Cox’s story is told by his son David who grew up under the pall of terrorism, but was inspired by his father’s “great courage to write what was true.” He has written the book that his father could not.
ABOUT THE COX FAMILY
David Cox, son of Bob and Maud Cox, has been a reporter for numerous international publications, including the Miami Herald, the Sunday Times, Clarin, La Nacion, and Perfil. He worked for the Buenos Aires Herald, and the International Herald Tribune among other newspapers.
His first book, coauthored in Spanish with Damian Nabot, about the robbery of Juan Peron’s severed hands, won international acclaim. The English version of the book, Unveiling the Enigma, The Secret behind the Defiling of Peron s Corpse will be published in 2008 in the U.S. A version of Dirty Secrets, Dirty War was published in Spanish and titled, En Honor a la Verdad, Memorias del Exilio de Robert Cox.
Cox is a graduate of the College of Charleston and earned an M.A. in mass communications from the University of South Carolina. He is currently a journalist with CNN in Atlanta.
Robert J. Cox has been a journalist for nearly six decades. After 20 years with the Buenos Aires Herald, he was a visiting scholar at the Wilson Center in Washington in 1980 and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, 1980-81. He became assistant editor of the News and Courier (now the Post and Courier) in Charleston, S.C., in 1982.
Cox was awarded the Maria Moors Cabot Medal from Columbia University, New York; Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to international journalism; Editor of the Year (Grenada Television, Great Britain, 1980). He served as President of the Inter American Press Association from 2001 to 2002.SS

CLS Family Trivia Night
2020-06-04 16:30 - 17:30
Lisa Hayes, our Special Collections Librarian, had the brilliant idea to host a Family Trivia Night on Zoom. So, with the help of Dutch, the two will host a fun family-friendly event next Thursday, June 4th at 4:30pm. They’ve set it up to include categories like: Animals, Science, Harry Potter, Charleston History, and more. So there’s something for every whiz kid!
To RSVP to this unique event click here!

A Summer with Southern Authors: Charlotte Jenkins, Jonathan Green, and William P. Baldwin
2020-06-25 16:30 - 17:30
The Charleston Library Society happily announces the launch of a community partnership with Evening Post Books & Buxton Books. Beginning this summer, we will offer substantive, informative and entertaining “virtual” programs until the Library Society can resume onsite gatherings. Convening every other Thursday at 4:30PM, the series will present a diverse group of Southern Authors as they discuss their works and the influence of the South in their worlds.
Gullah chef, Charlotte Jenkins, Charleston artist, Jonathan Green, and William P. Baldwin discuss this narrative cookbook with Polly Buxton is this deliciously intriguing conversation! An RSVP is required to attend this event.
All attendees will receive an email invitation to the Zoom event on Wednesday, June 24th. For any questions, contact Dutch Reutter at dreutter@charlestonlibrarysociety.org
ABOUT THE BOOK & AUTHORS:
Take a journey into Chef Charlotte Jenkins’ creative kitchen, and also into her life. Charlotte and her husband Frank grew up Gullah at a time when the Old Ways were giving way to the New Ways, part of the generation that bridged those two worlds. Charlotte learned to cook the way her mama, her grandmamma and all the mamas that have come before her – by working alongside one another. She also trained at Johnson & Wales Culinary Institute in Charleston, where she adapted the traditional recipes to be more healthful. In 1997, she and her husband Frank opened Gullah Cuisine in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and were widely acknowledged as offering the best of authentic Gullah cooking. This book brings Charlotte’s wonderful recipes to you – and more than that. It’s a tale of connection, sharing a world the Gullah built. Narrative is by critically-acclaimed author William P. Baldwin, photographs by Pulitzer Prize-nominee Mic Smith, and art by beloved Gullah painter Jonathan Green.

A Summer with Southern Authors: Jeff Upshaw & Bob Deans
2020-07-09 16:30 - 17:30
The Charleston Library Society happily announces the launch of a community partnership with Evening Post Books & Buxton Books. Beginning this summer, we will offer substantive, informative and entertaining “virtual” programs until the Library Society can resume onsite gatherings. Convening every other Thursday at 4:30PM, the series will present a diverse group of Southern Authors as they discuss their works and the influence of the South in their worlds.
Jeff Upshaw and Bob Deans will be in conversation with Polly Buxton discussing what it was like coming of age in the 1960s South. Authors of Twelve Days in Sunset and The Bicycle Man, Upshaw and Deans reflect on 1960s southern boyhoods from different vantage points — the Mississippi Delta and the suburbs of Richmond Virginia! An RSVP is required to attend this event.
All attendees will receive an email invitation to the Zoom event on Wednesday, June 24th. For any questions, contact Dutch Reutter at dreutter@charlestonlibrarysociety.org
ABOUT THE BOOKS:
Twelve Days in Sunset –
During a 1967 summer stay with his grandparents in tiny Sunset Mississippi, twelve-year-old city boy Shiloh Brown, for the first time in his sheltered life, faces bullying, hatred and racism—yet discovers loyalty, honor and friendship. The special bond between Shy and Queen, the family’s black cook, lasts for a lifetime.
The Bicycle Man-
In 1968, delivering the newspaper each morning becomes a hero’s journey into the riven heart of a nation torn by racial ferment and divisive war. For the community outside Richmond, the racial fault line is a bamboo grove by a honeysuckle swamp. The messenger for national promise and peril is Sandy, whose morning paper route becomes a kind of hero’s journey into the troubled soul of a nation torn by the fight for civil rights, war in Vietnam and the larger search for national purpose. And helping him sort it all out is a mysterious figure with a tragic secret who stands by the boy as Sandy confronts a staggering loss.
This is a story of friendship. This is a story of hope. It’s the story of an era that helped shape our country and define our times, told through one boy’s extraordinary journey through his own small patch of America. And it’s the story of a debt he can never repay to someone he knows only as, The Bicycle Man.

Buxton Books Presents: Panic in the Palmetto State with Grady Hendrix
2020-07-16 18:00 - 19:00
New York Times bestselling author, Grady Hendrix, has set two of his most popular horror novels in Mt. Pleasant’s Old Village: My Best Friend’s Exorcism and The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.
Join the Library Society & Buxton Books via Zoom on Thursday, July 16th at 6 PM as Grady talks with us about the secret history of South Carolina and why it’s a natural home for horror.
This event is free with RSVP. To RSVP, email hello@buxtonbooks.com or call 843-723-1670.
To purchase your copy of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires click here.
About the Author & Works:
Grady Hendrix writes fiction, also called “lies,” and he writes non-fiction, which people sometimes accidentally pay him for. He is the author of Horrorstör, the only novel about a haunted Scandinavian furniture store you’ll ever need. It has been translated into 14 languages and is being turned into a movie from the people who made quality films like 1917 and Black Swan. Foolishly, they are paying Grady to write it. He is busy inserting a whole lot of tutus into it right now.
His novel My Best Friend’s Exorcism, about demonic possession, friendship, exorcism, and the Eighties, is basically Beaches meets The Exorcist and it caused the Wall Street Journal to call him “a national treasure” and received rave reviews from everyone from Kirkus to Southern Living. Surprisingly, this is still not enough for him to earn his mother’s love.
Refusing to stop trying to prove himself to his family, he also wrote Paperbacks from Hell, a history of the horror paperback boom in the Seventies and Eighties. It is so popular it won a Stoker Award, and while you may not know what that is, trust me when I say that it is a big, big deal that gets Grady 20% off all purchases at the Franklin Mint. His next novel was We Sold Our Souls, a heavy metal take on the Faust legend, which hit bookstores in 2018 and got selected as one of the best books of 2018 by Library Journal, the Chicago Public library, and, finally, his mom. It’s also one of Locus’s recommended novels of 2018 and earned him an article in the Los Angeles Review of Books that makes him sound like some kind of smart person or something. He’s not.
His latest novel is the New York Times bestseller, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, which is being turned into a TV series by Amazon right now because they own everything. In a surprise twist, this book is actually about a Southern vampire getting clubbed to death with books by the band, Slayer.
Grady Hendrix used to be a journalist, which means that he was completely irrelevant and could be killed and turned into food at any time. He is one of the founders of the New York Asian Film Festival, but he is not responsible for the bad parts of it. He is also not Asian. For years he was a regular film critic for the New York Sun but then it went out of business. He has written for Playboy Magazine, Slate, The Village Voice, the New York Post, Film Comment, and Variety. He has a hard time making up his mind.
There is a science fiction book called Occupy Space that he is the author of, and also a fantasy book called Satan Loves You which he wrote as well. Along with his BFF from high school, Katie Crouch, he is the co-author of the YA series, The Magnolia League. He co-authored Dirt Candy: A Cookbook, the first graphic novel cookbook in America, with his wife and Ryan Dunlavey. It’s now in its seventh printing which means that at least 24 people have bought a copy. His fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Pseudopod, and the anthology, The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination.
He is very, very beautiful, but if you ever meet him, please do not let this make you uncomfortable. He does not judge.

A Summer with Southern Authors: John Lane & Phil Wilkinson
2020-07-23 16:30 - 17:30
The Charleston Library Society happily announces the launch of a community partnership with Evening Post Books & Buxton Books. Beginning this summer, we will offer substantive, informative and entertaining “virtual” programs until the Library Society can resume onsite gatherings. Convening every other Thursday at 4:30PM, the series will present a diverse group of Southern Authors as they discuss their works and the influence of the South in their worlds.
“You don’t wrestle alligators. You come to terms with them.” Biologist and photographer Phil Wilkinson shares his lifetime of love, study and photography of the unique ecosystem of the Santee Delta, where he’s been on a first-name basis with some alligators for more than 40 years. Wilkinson will be in conversation with John Lane, the award-winning environmental writer who put narrative to Phil’s beautiful photos. An RSVP is required to attend this event.
All attendees will receive an email invitation to the Zoom event on Wednesday, June 24th. For any questions, contact Dutch Reutter at dreutter@charlestonlibrarysociety.org
ABOUT THE BOOK:
A richly embroidered coastal South Carolina tapestry of three strands: Wildlife biologist Phillip Wilkinson’s stunning photos of the Delta’s people, wildlife and weather; his homespun stories of the place and its conservation history; and a seven-part narrative by award-winning environmental writer and Wofford College professor John Lane who shares what he has learned firsthand in the field with Phil.
With publication of this remarkable coffee-table book, the Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust and Evening Post Books have brought Wilkinson’s legacy to a wider public and celebrate the beauty and value of one of the richest and most storied places on Earth.

Speaker Series: Ted Bell
2020-07-28 16:30 - 17:30
Join the us & Buxton Books as we celebrate the launch of Ted Bell’s DRAGONFIRE, featuring Lord Alexander Hawke, the sixth-richest man in England, gentleman spy, and one of the thriller genre’s most well-liked heroes. Previous books in the series have been lauded by other giants in the field such as Clive Cussler, Nelson Demille, and James Patterson, and DRAGONFIRE is no exception. Last seen in 2018’s Overkill, Hawke—whose savvy and suave nature has drawn comparisons to James Bond—is looking for the Queen’s missing grandson, whose disappearance may be the culmination of a plot almost a century in the making and returns Bell to the gripping, sleek storytelling that his readers have come to anticipate. While this digital event is free and open to the public, an RSVP is required. All respondents will receive a link and password to the ZOOM lecture on the day of the event. Click on the RSVP Now button to reserve your space.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Alex Hawke, British lord and gentleman spy, is looking for the Queen’s missing grandson, whose disappearance may be the culmination of a plot almost a century old in this breathtaking new adventure from New York Times bestselling novelist Ted Bell.
December 8, 1941, Washington, D.C.
The new Chinese ambassador to the United States, Tiger Tang, meets with President Roosevelt one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. For the next four years, China and the U.S. will be wartime allies, but the charming, sophisticated ambassador may be playing his own treacherous game.
Today, The Bahamas
Alex Hawke is recovering from serious injuries incurred during a battle with a malevolent enemy. His recuperation is interrupted by a desperate call from the Queen. Her favorite grandson has disappeared in the Bahamas. Lord Hawke is the only man she trusts with a mission this sensitive. All she knows is that the young prince was last seen at the exclusive Dragonfire nightclub owned by the nefarious Tang brothers, grandsons of Ambassador Tiger Tang.
ABOUT TED:
Ted Bell is the former chairman of the board and creative director of Young & Rubicam, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies. He is the New York Times bestselling author of the Alex Hawke series as well as the YA adventure novels Nick of Time and The Time Pirate. He has recently been writer-in-residence at Cambridge University (U.K.) and visiting scholar at the Department of Politics and International Relations.

Speaker Series: Suzanne Nossel
2020-07-30 16:30 - 17:30
The Library Society welcomes CEO of PEN America, Suzanne Nossel to discuss her new book, Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech For All in a digital ZOOM format event. A vital, necessary playbook for navigating and defending free speech today, Dare To Speak provides a pathway for promoting free expression while also cultivating a more inclusive public culture.While this digital event is free and open to the public, an RSVP is required. All respondents will receive a link and password to the ZOOM lecture on the day of the event. Click on the RSVP Now button to reserve your space.
“A must read.”—Margaret Atwood
Online trolls and fascist chat groups. Controversies over campus lectures. Cancel culture versus censorship. The daily hazards and debates surrounding free speech dominate headlines and fuel social media storms. In an era where one tweet can launch—or end—your career, and where free speech is often invoked as a principle but rarely understood, learning to maneuver the fast-changing, treacherous landscape of public discourse has never been more urgent.
In Dare To Speak, Suzanne Nossel, a leading voice in support of free expression, delivers a vital, necessary guide to maintaining democratic debate that is open, free-wheeling but at the same time respectful of the rich diversity of backgrounds and opinions in a changing country. Centered on practical principles, Nossel’s primer equips readers with the tools needed to speak one’s mind in today’s diverse, digitized, and highly-divided society without resorting to curbs on free expression.
At a time when free speech is often pitted against other progressive axioms—namely diversity and equality—Dare To Speak presents a clear-eyed argument that the drive to create a more inclusive society need not, and must not, compromise robust protections for free speech. Nossel provides concrete guidance on how to reconcile these two sets of core values within universities, on social media, and in daily life. She advises readers how to:

Use language conscientiously without self-censoring ideas;
Defend the right to express unpopular views;
And protest without silencing speech.

Nossel warns against the increasingly fashionable embrace of expanded government and corporate controls over speech, warning that such strictures can reinforce the marginalization of lesser-heard voices. She argues that creating an open market of ideas demands aggressive steps to remedy exclusion and ensure equal participation.
Replete with insightful arguments, colorful examples, and salient advice, Dare To Speak brings much-needed clarity and guidance to this pressing—and often misunderstood—debate.
ABOUT SUZANNE:
Suzanne Nossel​ is Chief Executive Officer at PEN America. ​Prior to joining PEN America, she served as the Chief Operating Officer of Human Rights Watch and as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. She has served in the Obama Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, leading US engagement in the UN and multilateral institutions on human right issues, and in the Clinton Administration as Deputy to the US Ambassador for UN Management and Reform. Nossel coined the term “Smart Power,” which was the title of a 2004 article she published in ​Foreign Affairs Magazine ​and later became the theme of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s tenure in office. She is a featured columnist for ​Foreign Policy​ magazine and has published op-eds in ​The New York Times, Washington Post, ​and ​LA Times​, as well as scholarly articles in ​Foreign Affairs, Dissent, ​and ​Democracy​, among others. Nossel serves on the Board of Directors of the Tides Foundation. She is a former senior fellow at the Century Foundation, the Center for American Progress, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Nossel is a magna cum laude graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

A Summer with Southern Authors: John Warley
2020-08-06 16:30 - 17:30
The Charleston Library Society happily announces the launch of a community partnership with Evening Post Books & Buxton Books. Beginning this summer, we will offer substantive, informative and entertaining “virtual” programs until the Library Society can resume onsite gatherings. Convening every other Thursday at 4:30PM, the series will present a diverse group of Southern Authors as they discuss their works and the influence of the South in their worlds.
Join John Warley, author of The Home Guard and Stand Forever, Yielding Never, as he has a conversation with Polly Buxton of Buxton Books about his incredible stories, fiction & nonfiction alike. With a historian’s eye for detail, Warley has written a story set in and around Beaufort during the Civil War in his book The Home Guard. His history of the Citadel, Stand Forever, Yielding Never is rich in intimate details of the institution and its leadership. He’ll discuss both books in this session. An RSVP is required to attend this event.
All attendees will receive an email invitation to the Zoom event on Wednesday, June 10th. For any questions, contact Dutch Reutter at dreutter@charlestonlibrarysociety.org
ABOUT JOHN:
In my early 40s, I felt the need for a passion I’d lost in the practice of law. Writing filled that need, and I’ve been doing a lot of it ever since. I wrote my first novel between 4 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. It took a year, and when I finished I wasn’t sure I hadn’t wasted my time.
So I sent it to Pat Conroy, my Citadel classmate and baseball teammate from the class of 1967. I figured Pat knew a thing or two about writing, given the success of books like The Prince of Tides. Pat loved my book and asked my permission to send it to his agent, which I gave (duh?) His agent, one of New York’s best, signed me up, predicting a major trade hard cover and a film deal. That turned out to be a bit optimistic, but I still believe Bethesda’s Child is a fine novel.
In 2014, Story River Books, an imprint of the University of South Carolina Press, published A Southern Girl, my novel inspired by the adoption of my Korean daughter into a conservative Southern family. Pat Conroy deemed it “as stylish as a novel by John Irving and as tightly written as one by John Grisham. I wish I’d written this book.” I’ve been gratified by the reviews and sales of that book. In March 2018, Evening Post Books published my history of The Citadel entitled Stand Forever, Yielding Never; The Citadel in the 21st Century.
I’m a native South Carolinian, a graduate of The Citadel and the University of Virginia School of Law. I practiced law in Virginia until 1993, when I moved to Mexico to write and teach. Now a full-time writer, I divide my time between Beaufort, South Carolina, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

A Summer with Southern Authors: Horace Mungin & Marjory Wentworth
2020-08-20 16:30 - 17:30
The Charleston Library Society happily announces the launch of a community partnership with Evening Post Books & Buxton Books. Beginning this summer, we will offer substantive, informative and entertaining “virtual” programs until the Library Society can resume onsite gatherings. Convening every other Thursday at 4:30PM, the series will present a diverse group of Southern Authors as they discuss their works and the influence of the South in their worlds.
Horace Mungin’s poems address the conscious erasure of African American history. Mungin will be in conversation with South Carolina Poet Laureate, Marjory Wentworth, and Buxton Books’, Polly Buxton, discussing his book, Notes from 1619: A Poetic 400-Year Reflection, taking us from the Cape Coast of Africa on a narrative journey describing the African experience in America. This is a narrative that provides a context and an understanding long missing from our national conversation.
About the Book:
Horace Mungin’s brave attempt to fight against the multiple manifestations of injustice imposed by the conscious erasure of African American history is in keeping with the best of contemporary African American literature. Mungin deftly imagines the horrors of the Middle Passage, taking us back to the Cape Coast of Africa and telling the story of Khadija, “born to a time of trouble,” who was captured, imprisoned and carried on the slave ship, Clotilda “to look upon the world/That dark day of the/Darkest days in America.” And so it begins, the narrative journey that sweeps through these poems describing the African experience in America, “in this vacuum where there is no God.” In the pivotal poem “America,” Mungin lays it all out for us, from the “hocus pocus” of the ways in which the Constitution did not apply to black people, to the failures of Reconstruction and all that follows, these poems weave our history together until the present day and the election of Donald Trump to the presidencyThis is a narrative we’ve never heard told in quite this way, and it provides a context and an understanding long missing from our national conversation.

Speaker Series: Rob Simbeck & Margaret Renkl
2020-09-01 18:00 - 19:00
Join the Charleston Library Society & Buxton Books as we host authors Rob Simbeck & Margaret Renkl as they discuss their recent books, The Southern Wildlife Watcher: Notes of a Naturalist and Late Migrations: Natural History of Love and Loss. The writers will have a lively, and poignant conversation covering topics from their books as well as the environment. Tickets are $5 and include a $5 off coupon to use through Buxton Books on either Simbeck’s The Southern Wildlife Watcher: Notes of a Naturalist or Renkl’s Late Migrations: Natural History of Live and Loss. To purchase tickets, call 843-723-9912 or click here.
ABOUT THE BOOKS:
The Southern Wildlife Watcher is a colorful look at thirty-six common and not-so-common animals found in the southeastern United States–from the hummingbird to the bald eagle and from the bullfrog to the bobcat. Rob Simbeck, one of the Southeast’s most widely read naturalists, combines a poet’s voice with a journalist’s rigor in offering readers an intimate introduction to the creatures around us. Through delightful storytelling each vignette offers accessible information supported by quotes from noted naturalists and biologists. Simbeck covers habitat, diet, mating and reproduction, environmental challenges, and even folklore in outlining the lives of insects and other invertebrates, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, crustaceans, and fish. The Southern Wildlife Watcher is a refresher course and handbook for veteran nature lovers, an introduction for young readers, and fireplace or bedtime reading for those wanting to reflect on nature’s bounty.
—
Growing up in Alabama, Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents her exuberant, creative mother; her steady, supportive father and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child’s transition to caregiver.
And here, braided into the overall narrative, Renkl offers observations on the world surrounding her suburban Nashville home. Ringing with rapture and heartache, these essays convey the dignity of bluebirds and rat snakes, monarch butterflies and native bees. As these two threads haunt and harmonize with each other, Renkl suggests that there is astonishment to be found in common things: in what seems ordinary, in what we all share. For in both worlds the natural one and our own the shadow side of love is always loss, and grief is only loves own twin.
Gorgeously illustrated by the authors brother, Billy Renkl, Late Migrations is an assured and memorable debut.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Rob Simbeck has written for the Washington Post, Guideposts, Field & Stream, Birder’s World, Wildbird, and wildlife/conservation magazines in twenty states. He is the author, ghostwriter, or editor of more than twenty books and is former president and chairman of the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association.
Margaret Renkl is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, where her essays appear weekly. Her work has also appeared in Guernica, Literary Hub, Proximity, and River Teeth, among others. She was the founding editor of Chapter 16, the daily literary publication of Humanities Tennessee, and is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Carolina. She lives in Nashville.

Beethoven Fest with Yuriy Bekker – Part 1
2020-09-02 19:00 - 20:00
Beethoven Fest, Sonatas for Violin and Piano
To commence Beethoven’s 250th birthday celebration, CSO Concertmaster, Yuriy Bekker, will be joined by pianist, Chee-Hang See, in 2 performances of Beethoven’s Sonatas for Violin and Piano. These masterpieces are staples in the repertoire for both violinists and pianists. The duo will perform five of his ten sonatas over 2 nights, including his two most famous sonatas. The Spring sonata will be performed on September 2nd and the Kreutzer sonata will be performed on September 3rd. Don’t miss this very special half-marathon of Beethoven’s beloved works.
Tickets for this limited capacity concert are $40 per person. Maximum capacity will be 40 attendees to make sure our patrons can be socially distanced and still enjoy an intimate concert recital. Masks are required for admittance.
TO PURCHASE TICKETS CLICK HERE OR CALL 843-723-9912
BEETHOVEN FEST WITH YURIY BEKKER PROGRAM
September 2nd at 7pm
Violin Sonata no 1 in D major, Op. 12, no. 1
Allegro con brio
Tema con variazioni: Andante con moto
Rondo: Allegro
Sonata no. 2 in A major, Op. 12, no. 2
Allegro vivace
Andante, più tosto allegretto
Allegro piacevole
Sonata no. 5 in F major, Op. 24 (Spring)
Allegro
Adagio molto espressivo
Scherzo: Allegro molto
Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo
September 3rd at 7pm
Sonata no. 6 in A major, Op. 30, no. 1
Allegro
Adagio molto espressivo
Allegretto con variazioni
Sonata no. 9 in A major, Op. 47 (Kreutzer)
Adagio sostenuto Presto
Andante con variazioni
Presto

Beethoven Fest with Yuriy Bekker – Part 2
2020-09-03 19:00 - 20:00

Speaker Series: Dinyar Patel
2020-09-17 10:30 - 23:30
Joining us from Mumbai, Dinyar Patel will discuss his new book, Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism in a Zoom format lecture. Patel’s book is the definitive biography of Dadabhai Naoroji, the nineteenth-century activist who founded the Indian National Congress, was the first British MP of Indian origin, and the inspired man behind the likes of Gandhi and Nehru. This will be a fantastic conversation to listen to as we gain perspective on the life of a man with impressive, lasting influence. To RSVP, call 843-723-9912 or scroll to the bottom of this page.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Mahatma Gandhi called Dadabhai Naoroji the “father of the nation,” a title that today is reserved for Gandhi himself. Dinyar Patel examines the extraordinary life of this foundational figure in India’s modern political history, a devastating critic of British colonialism who served in Parliament as the first-ever Indian MP, forged ties with anti-imperialists around the world, and established self-rule or swaraj as India’s objective.
Naoroji’s political career evolved in three distinct phases. He began as the activist who formulated the “drain of wealth” theory, which held the British Raj responsible for India’s crippling poverty and devastating famines. His ideas upended conventional wisdom holding that colonialism was beneficial for Indian subjects and put a generation of imperial officials on the defensive. Next, he attempted to influence the British Parliament to institute political reforms. He immersed himself in British politics, forging links with socialists, Irish home rulers, suffragists, and critics of empire. With these allies, Naoroji clinched his landmark election to the House of Commons in 1892, an event noticed by colonial subjects around the world. Finally, in his twilight years he grew disillusioned with parliamentary politics and became more radical. He strengthened his ties with British and European socialists, reached out to American anti-imperialists and Progressives, and fully enunciated his demand for swaraj. Only self-rule, he declared, could remedy the economic ills brought about by British control in India.
Naoroji is the first comprehensive study of the most significant Indian nationalist leader before Gandhi.
TO PURCHASE A COPY OF PATEL’S BOOK, CLICK HERE.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dinyar Patel is Assistant Professor of History at the University of South Carolina. He has written for BBC News and the New York Times, among other publications.

Speaker Series: Carl Safina & Mary Alice Monroe
2020-09-29 18:00 - 19:00
Join the Charleston Library Society & Buxton Books as we host authors Carl Safina and Mary Alice Monroe as they discuss Safina’s most recent book, Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace. These two powerfully, strong writers will have a lively conversation covering topics from the environment & ecosystems to writing & acquiring new perspectives. Tickets are $5 and include a $5 off coupon to use through Buxton Books on either Safina’s Becoming Wild or Monroe’s On Ocean Boulevard. To purchase tickets, call 843-723-9912 or click here.
ABOUT SAFINA’S BOOK:
New York Times bestselling author Carl Safina brings readers close to three non-human cultures—what they do, why they do it, and how life is for them.
Becoming Wild offers a glimpse into cultures among non-human animals through looks at the lives of individuals in different present-day animal societies. By showing how others teach and learn, Safina offers a fresh understanding of what is constantly going on beyond humanity. With reporting from deep in nature, alongside individual creatures in their free-living communities, this book offers a very privileged glimpse behind the curtain of life on Earth, and helps inform the answer to that most urgent of questions: Who are we here with?
“Fascinating . . . [Becoming Wild] gives the reader a sense of being near these creatures and experiencing some of the most seductive environments on Earth. . . . Safina’s prose achieves the elusive goal of being both informative and luminously evocative.”
―The Wall Street Journal
TO PURCHASE A COPY OF SAFINA’S OR MONROE’S BOOK CLICK HERE!

ABOUT CARL & MARY ALICE:
Carl Safina’s lyrical non-fiction writing explores how humans are changing the living world, and what the changes mean for non-human beings and for us all. His work fuses scientific understanding, emotional connection, and a moral call to action. His writing has won a MacArthur “genius” prize; Pew, Guggenheim, and National Science Foundation Fellowships; book awards from Lannan, Orion, and the National Academies; and the John Burroughs, James Beard, and George Rabb medals. He grew up raising pigeons, training hawks and owls, and spending as many days and nights in the woods and on the water as he could. Safina is now the first Endowed Professor for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University and is founding president of the not-for-profit Safina Center. He hosted the PBS series Saving the Ocean, which can be viewed free at PBS.org . His writing appears in The New York Times, TIME, The Guardian, Audubon, Yale e360, and National Geographic, and on the Web at Huffington Post, CNN.com, Medium, and elsewhere. His books include the classic, Song for the Blue Ocean. Carl is author of ten books including Beyond Words; What Animals Think and Feel. His most recent book is Becoming Wild; How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace. He lives on Long Island, New York, with his wife Patricia and their dogs and feathered friends.

Mary Alice Monroe is the New York Times bestselling author of 23 novels, including On Ocean Boulevard, which is the sixth installment of the bestselling Beach House series.
More than 7.5 million copies of her books have been published worldwide. She’s earned numerous accolades and awards, including: Induction into the South Carolina Academy of Authors’ Hall of Fame; Southwest Florida Author of Distinction Award; South Carolina Award for Literary Excellence; RT Lifetime Achievement Award; the International Book Award for Green Fiction, and the prestigious Southern Book Prize for Fiction. Her bestselling novel The Beach House is a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie.
Monroe found her true calling in environmental fiction when she moved to coastal South Carolina. Captivated by the beauty and fragility of her new home, Monroe’s experiences living in the midst of a habitat that was quickly changing gave her a strong and important focus for her novels. She often seeks parallels between the land and life, delving into the complexities of current interpersonal relationships.
Monroe has also published two children’s books, which complement the environmental themes she’s known for in her novels. Monroe’s first Middle Grade book, The Islanders, will be published by Aladdin Books, Simon & Schuster in 2021.

Inside the New York Times Book Review With Pamela Paul & Dwight Garner
2020-10-15 18:00 - 19:00
Zoom in on Thursday, October 15th, at 6 pm for a much-anticipated conversation between the Editor of the New York Times Book Review, Pamela Paul, and long-standing Times book critic—previous Review editor—Dwight Garner. Not only is the Times Book Review beloved by our members, the Book Review podcast has become a new perennial favorite as well!
Although Pamela Paul’s notable interviews have the incredible power to inspire reading, her work as editor drives this power to print. Working with lauded critics like Dwight Garner is only part of the job. Paul and Garner exist in a layer of the book world that so many of us wish to see and experience for ourselves. Join us as Dwight Garner interviews Pamela Paul live on Zoom and see for yourself what it is like inside the New York Times Book Review.
This event is free and open to the public, but requires an RSVP. To RSVP, fill out the form at the bottom of this page! All responders will receive the Zoom link and password on the day of the event to the email they provide.
ABOUT PAMELA:
Pamela Paul is the editor of the Book Review and oversees all books coverage at The Times. She is the author of six books, “My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues,” “By the Book,” “Parenting, Inc.,” “Pornified,” “The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony” and most recently, “How to Raise a Reader,” co-written with Maria Russo. She is also the host of the weekly Book Review podcast.
Before joining The New York Times, she was a contributor to Time magazine and The Economist, and her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Slate and Vogue. She wrote the Studied column for Sunday Styles and has written for the Times Magazine, Education Life, Sunday Review and Arts & Leisure.
To pre-order Pamela’s upcoming children’s book, Rectangle Time, click here!
ABOUT DWIGHT:
Dwight Garner is a book critic for The New York Times. He was also, for many years, an editor for the Book Review. His essays and criticism have also appeared in The New Republic, Harper’s, Slate and elsewhere.
To pre-order Dwight’s upcoming book, GARNER’S QUOTATIONS: A Modern Miscellany, click here!

Speaker Series: David O. Stewart
2020-10-22 18:00 - 19:00
The Library Society is happy to welcome the return of history & historical fiction writer, David O. Stewart for a topical & unique Zoom lecture. Stewart will focus on his historical mystery novels in this digital format event. In particular he will discuss the The Paris Deception which centers itself and its protagonists around the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and the 1919 Pandemic. Through this lecture we will learn about our nation’s and the world’s response to one of the last major pandemics. Topical and interesting, with a good measure of mystery, this event will certainly entertain all.
This event is free and open to the public, but requires an RSVP. To RSVP, fill out the form at the bottom of this page! All responders will receive the Zoom link and password on the day of the event to the email they provide.
TO PURCHASE A COPY OF DAVID’S BOOK, CLICK HERE.
ABOUT DAVID:
After many years as a trial and appellate lawyer, David O. Stewart became a bestselling writer of history and historical fiction. His histories have explored the writing of the Constitution, the gifts of James Madison, the outrageous western expedition and treason trial of the mysterious Aaron Burr, and the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. His histories have won the Washington Writing Award for best book of the year, the History Prize of the Society of the Cincinnati, and the William H. Prescott Award of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America.
His first novel, The Lincoln Deception, about the John Wilkes Booth Conspiracy, was called the best historical novel of 2013 by Bloomberg View. Sequels include The Paris Deception, set at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and The Babe Ruth Deception, which follows the Babe’s first two years with the Yankees.

Speaker Series: Ace Atkins & Lisa Unger
2020-10-29 18:00 - 19:00
Mystery & Thriller readers rejoice! CLS is welcoming two powerhouse authors, Ace Atkins and Lisa Unger, to discuss their two most recent captivating novels through a Zoom conversation. Atkins will highlight The Revelators, the 10th installment in his hit Quinn Colson series, which just this summer got a green-light from HBO to develop a television series, and Unger to discuss her October 2020 release, Confessions on the 7:45. These two authors are not only talented in their craft, they are friends who know how to thrill all their readers. Join us for this gripping Zoom conversation about two books that will keep you on the edge of your seat! To RSVP, fill out the RSVP form at the bottom of this page.
To order their books, click here.
ABOUT THE REVELATORS:
In this gripping new crime novel from the New York Times-bestselling author, Quinn Colson is about to find out whether his quest for justice can coexist with his loyalty to the law…
Shot up and left for dead, Sheriff Quinn Colson has revenge on his mind. With the help of his new wife Maggie, rehabilitation, and sheer force of will, he’s walking again, eager to resume his work as a southern lawman and track down those responsible for his attempted murder. But someone is standing in his way: an interim sheriff, appointed by the newly elected Governor Vardaman, the man who Quinn knows ordered his murder. Vardaman sits at the top of the state’s power structure – both legal and criminal – and little does he know Quinn is still alive. And coming for him.
Quinn will enlist the help of his most trusted friends, including federal agent Jon Holliday, U.S. Marshal Lillie Virgil, and Donnie Varner, a childhood buddy now working for the Feds as an informant. Since Quinn’s been gone, the criminal element in north Mississippi has flourished, with queen-pin Fannie Hathcock enjoying unbridled freedom. As an ice storm bears down on north Mississippi and Memphis, and Tibbehah County is isolated from the outside world, the killers will return to finish the job.
But this time, Quinn Colson and company will be waiting, ready to bust apart a criminal empire running on a rigged system for far too long. This is the battle of Jericho, the epic showdown that’s been years in the making. In the end, the war will end – for better or worse.
ABOUT CONFESSIONS ON THE 7:45:
From master of suspense Lisa Unger comes a riveting thriller about a chance encounter that unravels a stunning web of lies and deceit.
Be careful to whom you tell your darkest secrets…
Selena Murphy is commuting home from her job in the city when the train stalls out on the tracks. She strikes up a conversation with a beautiful stranger in the next seat, and their connection is fast and easy. The woman introduces herself as Martha and confesses that she’s been stuck in an affair with her boss. Selena, in turn, confesses that she suspects her husband is sleeping with the nanny. When the train arrives at Selena’s station, the two women part ways, presumably never to meet again.
But days later, Selena’s nanny disappears.
Soon Selena finds her once-perfect life upended. As she is pulled into the mystery of the missing nanny, and as the fractures in her marriage grow deeper, Selena begins to wonder, who was Martha really? But she is hardly prepared for what she’ll discover.
Expertly plotted and reminiscent of the timeless classic Strangers on a Train, Confessions on the 7:45 is a gripping thriller about the delicate facades we create around our lives.

An Evening with David Rubenstein
2020-11-05 18:00 - 19:00
The Charleston Library Society is excited to welcome back David M. Rubenstein to discuss his recent best-seller, How to Lead: Wisdom from the World’s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers. Thanks to the innovation of Zoom, Mr. Rubenstein will be in conversation with John Huey, former Editor-In-Chief of Time, Inc. At a time when leadership is in great demand, Rubenstein will give us glimpses into the interviews he conducted with legends across all fields. To purchase tickets, click here.
Special Thanks to our Event Sponsors:
Jerrold & Ann Mitchell
Ken & Anne Tidwell
Bud & Lesa Watts
The Darla Moore School of Business
Southern Land Company, LLC
Ticket Packages:
Socially-Distanced, VIP In-Person reception and Zoom Viewing Ticket: $150
– A limited number of patrons will be able to socially-distance in the Main Reading Room to listen and watch the Zoom conversation on the big screen. These patrons will all have the opportunity to directly ask Rubenstein a question during the exclusive Q&A period. All VIP ticket purchasers will receive a signed copy of “How to Lead”.
Zoom and Signed Book Package: $45
– Purchasers of this package will receive access to the Zoom conversation and will also receive a signed copy of “How to Lead”.
Zoom Access: $10
– Purchasers will receive access to the Zoom conversation through a link provided by CLS.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
The essential leadership playbook. Learn the principles and guiding philosophies of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, and many others through illuminating conversations about their remarkable lives and careers.
For the past five years, David M. Rubenstein, author of The American Story, visionary cofounder of The Carlyle Group, and host of The David Rubenstein Show, has spoken with the worlds highest performing leaders about who they are and how they became successful. How to Lead distills these revealing conversations into an indispensable leadership guidebook.
Gain advice and wisdom from CEOs, presidents, founders, and master performers from the worlds of finance (Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon, Christine Lagarde, Ken Griffin), tech (Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt, Tim Cook), entertainment (Oprah Winfrey, Lorne Michaels, Renee Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma), sports (Jack Nicklaus, Adam Silver, Coach K, Phil Knight), government (President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Nancy Pelosi), and many others.
-Jeff Bezos harnesses the power of wandering, discovering that his best decisions have been made with heart and intuition, rather than analysis.
-Richard Branson never goes into a venture looking to make a profit. He aims to make the best in field.
-Phil Knight views Nike as a marketing company whose product is its most important marketing tool.
-Marillyn Hewson, who grew up in a fatherless home with four siblings in Kansas, quickly learned the importance of self-reliance and the value of a dollar.
How to Lead shares the extraordinary stories of these pioneering agents of change. Discover how each luminary got started and how they handle decision making, failure, innovation, change, and crisis. Learn from their decades of experience as pioneers in their field. No two leaders are the same.
ABOUT DAVID:
David M. Rubenstein is the author of The American Story and cofounder and co-executive chairman of The Carlyle Group, one of the worlds largest and most successful private equity firms. Rubenstein is Chairman of the Boards of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is an original signer of The Giving Pledge and a recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy and the MoMAs David Rockefeller Award, among other philanthropic awards. The host of The David Rubenstein Show on Bloomberg TV and PBS, he lives in the Washington, DC area.
ABOUT JOHN:
John Huey is an American journalist and publishing executive who served as the editor-in-chief of Time Inc., at the time the largest magazine publisher in the United States, overseeing more than 150 titles, including Time, People, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly and InStyle.

Speaker Series: Wright Thompson & Ace Atkins In Conversation with Julian Van Winkle III
2020-11-17 18:00 - 19:00
Calling all bourbon drinkers! Join the Charleston Library Society in conversation with Julian Van Winkle, Wright Thompson, and Ace Atkins as they discuss Wright’s book, Pappyland: A Story of Family, Fine Bourbon, and the Things That Last. This fascinating story focuses on how Julian Van Winkle III, the caretaker of the most coveted cult Kentucky Bourbon whiskey in the world, fought to protect his family’s heritage and preserve the taste of his forebears, in a world where authenticity, like his product, is in very short supply.
Wright Thompson was the mastermind in piecing together this extraordinary testimony on the challenge of living up to your legacy and the rewards that come from knowing and honoring your people and your craft. Thompson’s friend & returning author, Ace Atkins, will add another layer of Southern storytelling to the event, and this amazing trio is sure to create a lively conversation for everyone to enjoy!
This event is free, but an RSVP is required, and you will receive your Zoom invitation email the day of the event. If you pre-order or purchase a copy of Pappyland through Buxton Books, you will be entered in our giveaway of a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve.
Click this link to pre-order or purchase your copy: https://buxton-books.square.site/product/pappyland-a-story-of-family-find-bourbon-and-the-things-that-last/3201?cs=true
ABOUT THE BOOK:
As a journalist said of Pappy Van Winkle, “You could call it bourbon, or you could call it a $5,000 bottle of liquified, barrel-aged unobtanium.” Julian Van Winkle, the third-generation head of his family’s business, is now thought of as something like the Buddha of Bourbon – Booze Yoda, as Wright Thompson calls him. He is swarmed wherever he goes, and people stand in long lines to get him to sign their bottles of Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve, the whiskey he created to honor his grandfather, the founder of the family concern. A bottle of the 23-year-old Pappy starts at $3000 on the internet. As Julian is the first to say, things have gone completely nuts.

Forty years ago, Julian would have laughed in astonishment if you’d told him what lay ahead. He’d just stepped in to try to save the business after his father had died, partly of heartbreak, having been forced to sell the old distillery in a brutal downturn in the market for whiskey. Julian’s grandfather had presided over a magical kingdom of craft and connoisseurship, a genteel outfit whose family ethos generated good will throughout Kentucky and far beyond. There’s always a certain amount of romance to the marketing of spirits, but Pappy’s mission statement captured something real: “We make fine bourbon – at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always fine bourbon.” But now the business had hit the wilderness years, and Julian could only hang on for dear life, stubbornly committed to preserving his namesake’s legacy or going down with the ship.Then something like a miracle happened: it turned out that hundreds of very special barrels of whiskey from the Van Winkle family distillery had been saved by the multinational conglomerate that bought it. With no idea what they had, they offered to sell it to Julian, who scrambled to beg and borrow the funds. Now he could bottle a whiskey whose taste captured his family’s legacy. The result would immediately be hailed as the greatest whiskey in the world – and would soon be the hardest to find.But now, those old barrels were used up, and Julian Van Winkle faced the challenge of his lifetime: how to preserve the taste of Pappy, the taste of his family’s heritage, in a new age? The amazing Wright Thompson was invited to be his wingman as he set about to try. The result is an extraordinary testimony to the challenge of living up to your legacy and the rewards that come from knowing and honoring your people and your craft. Wright learned those lessons from Julian as they applied to the honest work of making a great bourbon whiskey in Kentucky, but he couldn’t help applying them to his own craft, writing, and his upbringing in Mississippi, as he and his wife contemplated the birth of their first child. May we all be lucky enough to find some of ourselves, as Wright Thompson did, in Julian Van Winkle, and in Pappyland.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Wright Thompson is a senior writer for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. He formerly worked at The Kansas City Star and Times-Picayune in New Orleans. Thompson’s topics have covered a wide range of sports issues, from football, basketball, and baseball, to car racing, sports history, Father’s Day, and bullfighting. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his family.

ABOUT JULIAN:
Julian P. Van Winkle, III is the third generation Van Winkle to produce bourbon whiskey in Kentucky. He joined his father, Julian, Jr., in 1977. At that time, Old Rip Van Winkle produced only two labels of their wheated bourbon whiskey. They were a 10-year 90 and 107 proof Old Rip Van Winkle.Since then Julian has added 12-year, 15-year, 20-year and 23-year bourbon labels to the Van Winkle selection of premium bourbon whiskeys. He has also added a 13-year premium rye whiskey to the whiskey portfolio. All of these whiskeys have received ratings in the 90’s by the Beverage Tasting Institute in Chicago, with the 20-year, “Pappy Van Winkle’s Family
Reserve” receiving a 99 rating.
Julian operated the company by himself since his father’s death in 1981. However, he was joined by his son Preston in June of 2001, the fourth generation Van Winkle to venture into the whiskey business. Then in 2002, Julian and Buffalo Trace Distillery became partners where Buffalo Trace distills, ages and bottles all the Van Winkle whiskeys.
In January of 2009, Julian was honored to be nominated as a Fellow at the Southern Foodways Alliance annual fundraiser at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee. Next January, at the same fundraising event, he will be inducted as a new member into the Fellowship of Southern Farmers, Artisans and Chefs. This is a tremendous honor as the group members are some of the most talented people around.
In March of 2009 & 2010, Julian was nominated for a James Beard award under the category of Outstanding Wine & Spirits Professional. The James Beard awards are the Oscars of the Food & Beverage world. The award in
2009 was won by Dale DeGroff, one of the world’s best mycologists. The 2010 award was won by John Shafer, one of Napa’s best wine makers. In May of 2011, Julian was won the prestigious Wine & Spirits Professional award and was at the Lincoln Center in New York City to receive his award. He was the first Kentuckian to receive a James Beard award. Whisky Magazine has honored Julian Van Winkle III with its highest accolade, inducting him into its Hall of Fame. Julian was recognized at the 2017 Whisky Magazine Awards America presentation held in New York on Feb. 28. He is one of only 39 to be awarded this honor.

ABOUT ACE:
New York Times Bestselling author Ace Atkins has been nominated for every major award in crime fiction, including the Edgar three times, twice for novels about former U.S. Army Ranger Quinn Colson. He has written nine books in the Colson series and continued Robert B. Parker’s iconic Spenser character after Parker’s death in 2010, adding seven best-selling novels in that series. A former newspaper reporter and SEC football player, Ace also writes essays and investigative pieces for several national magazines including Time, Outside and Garden & Gun. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his family, where he’s friend to many dogs and several bartenders.

Speaker Series: John Birdsall featuring Chef Mike Lata
2020-11-19 18:00 - 19:00
The Charleston Library Society welcomes author John Birdsall to discuss his most recent book, The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard. Dubbed the Dean of American Cookery, James Beard (1903-1985) was widely credited in the second half of the twentieth century as the founder of a national cuisine. Before it was published in 1972, one of his greatest books, James Beard’s American Cookery, had the working title Everything James Beard Knows About Cooking.
For a couple of generations following World War II, Beard was American food—his prodigious frame and charming, charismatic manner seemed to embody the cuisine of a large and diverse nation. But what exactly was James Beard’s American cooking? What are its roots? The traditions that nurture it? Whose cooking does it celebrate and whose does it ignore—even erase? How does the South figure in Beard’s reckoning of the nation’s food? In this talk, John Birdsall will describe the history of American cooking in the twentieth century, and the ways James Beard—notorious for bending the truth, who’d become famous in part for his skill at inventing myths about himself—invented American food.
Towards the end of the program, Birdsall will be joined by Charleston’s own Beard-award winning chef Mike Lata to conduct a Q&A session. This event is free, but an RSVP is required. After submitting your RSVP, you will receive your Zoom invitation email on the day of the event.
To purchase a copy of Birdsall’s The Man Who Ate Too Much click here: https://buxton-books.square.site/product/the-man-who-ate-too-much-the-life-of-james-beard/3202?cs=true
ABOUT THE BOOK:
The definitive biography of America’s best-known and least-understood food personality, and the modern culinary landscape he shaped.
In the first portrait of James Beard in twenty-five years, John Birdsall accomplishes what no prior telling of Beard’s life and work has done: He looks beyond the public image of the “Dean of American Cookery” to give voice to the gourmet’s complex, queer life and, in the process, illuminates the history of American food in the twentieth century. At a time when stuffy French restaurants and soulless Continental cuisine prevailed, Beard invented something strange and new: the notion of an American cuisine.
Informed by previously overlooked correspondence, years of archival research, and a close reading of everything Beard wrote, this majestic biography traces the emergence of personality in American food while reckoning with the outwardly gregarious Beard’s own need for love and connection, arguing that Beard turned an unapologetic pursuit of pleasure into a new model for food authors and experts.
Born in Portland, Oregon, in 1903, Beard would journey from the pristine Pacific Coast to New York’s Greenwich Village by way of gay undergrounds in London and Paris of the 1920s. The failed actor–turned–Manhattan canapé hawker–turned–author and cooking teacher was the jovial bachelor uncle presiding over America’s kitchens for nearly four decades. In the 1940s he hosted one of the first television cooking shows, and by flouting the rules of publishing would end up crafting some of the most expressive cookbooks of the twentieth century, with recipes and stories that laid the groundwork for how we cook and eat today.
In stirring, novelistic detail, The Man Who Ate Too Much brings to life a towering figure, a man who still represents the best in eating and yet has never been fully understood—until now. This is biography of the highest order, a book about the rise of America’s food written by the celebrated writer who fills in Beard’s life with the color and meaning earlier generations were afraid to examine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
John Birdsall is a two-time James Beard Award–winning author, a former food critic, and longtime restaurant cook. He is the coauthor of a cookbook, Hawker Fare, with James Syhabout. He lives in Tucson.

Speaker Series: Jeffrey Jackson In Conversation with Emily Yellin
2020-12-03 18:00 - 19:00
Please join the Charleston Library Society in welcoming author Jeffrey H. Jackson & New York Times contributor Emily Yellin for a conversation on Jackson’s recent book, Paper Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives to Defy the Nazis. Paper Bullets is the first book to tell the history of an audacious anti-Nazi campaign undertaken by an unlikely pair: two French women, Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe (artist names Claude Cahun & Marcel Moore), who drew on their skills as Parisian avant-garde artists to write and distribute “paper bullets”—wicked insults against Hitler, calls to rebel, and subversive fictional dialogues designed to demoralize Nazi troops occupying their adopted home on the British Channel Island of Jersey. Paper Bullets is a compelling World War II story that has not been told before, about the galvanizing power of art, and of resistance.
This event is free, but an RSVP is required. To RSVP, fill out the RSVP form at the bottom of the page. You will receive your Zoom invitation email on the day of the event.
To purchase a copy of Paper Bullets, click here: https://buxton-books.square.site/product/paper-bullets/3203?cs=true
ABOUT THE BOOK:
“A Nazi resistance story like none you’ve ever heard or read.” —Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers and On Desperate Ground

“Every page is gripping, and the amount of new research is nothing short of mind-boggling. A brilliant book for the ages!” —Douglas Brinkley, author of American Moonshot
Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
Paper Bullets is the first book to tell the history of an audacious anti-Nazi campaign undertaken by an unlikely pair: two French women, Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe, who drew on their skills as Parisian avant-garde artists to write and distribute “paper bullets”—wicked insults against Hitler, calls to rebel, and subversive fictional dialogues designed to demoralize Nazi troops occupying their adopted home on the British Channel Island of Jersey. Devising their own PSYOPS campaign, they slipped their notes into soldier’s pockets or tucked them inside newsstand magazines.
Hunted by the secret field police, Lucy and Suzanne were finally betrayed in 1944, when the Germans imprisoned them, and tried them in a court martial, sentencing them to death for their actions. Ultimately they survived, but even in jail, they continued to fight the Nazis by reaching out to other prisoners and spreading a message of hope.
Better remembered today by their artist names, Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, the couple’s actions were even more courageous because of who they were: lesbian partners known for cross-dressing and creating the kind of gender-bending work that the Nazis would come to call “degenerate art.” In addition, Lucy was half Jewish, and they had communist affiliations in Paris, where they attended political rallies with Surrealists and socialized with artists like Gertrude Stein.
Paper Bullets is a compelling World War II story that has not been told before, about the galvanizing power of art, and of resistance.

ABOUT JEFFREY:

Jeffrey H. Jackson is Professor of History at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. An expert on European history and culture, he is the author of Paris Under Water: How the City of Light Survived the Great Flood of 1910 and Making Jazz French: Music and Modern Life in Interwar Paris. He has appeared in documentary films and helped develop “Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story” for PBS’s Great Performances .

ABOUT EMILY:
Emily Yellin is a reporter, author and producer, who is currently leading a multimedia journalism project called Striking Voices, centered around in-depth video interviews with some of the Memphis sanitation workers who went on strike in 1968, and their wives, sons and daughters. Emily is a longtime contributor to The New York Times, mostly writing about the South, race and women’s issues. She has also written for Time, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, Smithsonian Magazine, and other publications. She is the author of two books: Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us (Simon & Schuster, 2009) and Our Mothers’ War (Simon & Schuster 2004) She has lived in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and London, but now lives in Memphis, with her two dogs named Layla and Gus.

Speaker Series: John Grisham in Conversation with Cassandra King
2020-12-08 18:00 - 19:00
The Charleston Library Society is honored to welcome best-selling author, John Grisham, to be in conversation with author, and friend of the Library, Cassandra King for this Zoom hybrid event. The two talented authors will discuss the dynamic process of writing best-selling novels in addition to focusing on Grisham’s most recent release, A Time For Mercy.
This hybrid style event will allow for 40 VIP In-Person Package patrons to enjoy the event on “the big screen” from the Library Society’s Main Reading Room, socially-distanced and with snack boxes and wine, while everyone else will watch from home. In addition, all purchasers of the VIP In-Person Package will have the opportunity to ask Grisham or King a question during the live Q&A period and will receive a signed copy of A Time For Mercy.
The Library Society is grateful for the Anonymous sponsoring of this incredible event.
Ticket Packages:
Zoom Access: $15
Zoom Access with a Signed copy of “A Time For Mercy”: $45
In-Person VIP Viewing Ticket with a Signed copy of “A Time For Mercy”: $75
For tickets: Click here
About A Time For Mercy:
Clanton, Mississippi. 1990. Jake Brigance finds himself embroiled in a deeply divisive trial when the court appoints him attorney for Drew Gamble, a timid sixteen-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy. Many in Clanton want a swift trial and the death penalty, but Brigance digs in and discovers that there is more to the story than meets the eye. Jake’s fierce commitment to saving Drew from the gas chamber puts his career, his financial security, and the safety of his family on the line.
In what may be the most personal and accomplished legal thriller of John Grisham’s storied career, we deepen our acquaintance with the iconic Southern town of Clanton and the vivid cast of characters that so many readers know and cherish. The result is a richly rewarding novel that is both timely and timeless, full of wit, drama, and—most of all—heart.
Bursting with all the courthouse scheming, small-town intrigue, and stunning plot twists that have become the hallmarks of the master of the legal thriller, A Time for Mercy is John Grisham’s most powerful courtroom drama yet.
There is a time to kill and a time for justice. Now comes A Time for Mercy.

273rd Annual Meeting
2021-01-19 17:00 - 18:30
The Charleston Library Society will virtually celebrate its 273rd Annual Meeting in 2021! Mark your calendars for this special virtual event and RSVP today. CLS will be celebrating the narrative of uncovering the hidden Library Society by hosting a discussion with Antiquarian Bookseller and Author, Stuart Bennett, CLS Head Librarian, Laura Mina, Special Collections Librarian, Lisa Hayes, and Director of the Bindery and Rare Books Conservator, James Davis! For any questions, please email dreutter@charlestonlibrarysociety.org
An RSVP is required to receive the Zoom link and password for this historic event. To RSVP, fill out the form at the bottom of this page. All responders should expect a link and password on the afternoon of the event.

Zoom Speaker Series: Susan Meissner in Conversation with CJ Lotz
2021-02-18 18:00 - 19:00
Join us in welcoming bestselling author Susan Meissner and Garden & Gun senior editor, C.J. Lotz as they discuss Meissner’s newest book, The Nature Of Fragile Things on Zoom. Meissner demonstrates an extraordinary talent for capturing pivotal moments in history that not only make for emotional, page-turning stories, but also deepen our understanding of the world. Her latest book, The Nature Of Fragile Things, comes as our planet faces dramatic natural disasters resulting from climate change, and the West Coast awaits the “Big One”—its next high-impact earthquake along the San Andreas Fault.
The Nature Of Fragile Things is the tale of one young woman whose life is forever changed by the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906—one of the deadliest and most devastating quakes in the history of the United States. The heroine’s fate becomes deeply entwined with two women she meets, and who help her rebuild from the ground up in the earthquake’s aftermath.
This event is free, but an RSVP is required. To RSVP, call (843) 723-9912 or fill out the form at the bottom of this page. Respondents will receive Zoom link and passwords on the afternoon of the event.
To purchase a copy of the book, click on the link below!
https://buxton-books.square.site/product/the-nature-of-fragile-things-by-susan-meissner/3395?cs=true&cst=custom

Zoom Speaker Series: A Conversation with Martha Teichner & Mo Rocca
2021-02-23 18:00 - 19:00
A memoir of love and loss, of being in the right place at the right time, and of the mysterious ways a beloved pet can bring people together, from CBS Sunday Morning News correspondent and multi-Emmy-Award-winner, Martha Teichner. Ms. Teichner will be joined by fellow CBS Sunday Morning News correspondent and author, Mo Rocca, to discuss her new memoir, When Harry Met Minnie: A True Story of Love and Friendship, in what is sure to be an entertaining and moving evening.
In short order, When Harry Met Minnie: A True Story of Love and Friendship goes like this: boy dog meets girl dog, the fairy tale part of this story. But there is so much more to this book. After Martha agrees to meet Harry and his owner Carol, what begins as a transaction involving a dog becomes a deep and meaningful friendship between two women with complicated lives and a love of Bull Terriers in common. Through the heartbreak and grief of Carol’s illness, the bond that develops changes Martha’s life, Carol’s life, Minnie’s life, Harry’s life; it changes Carol’s death as well. In this touching narrative, Martha considers the ways our stories are shaped by the people we meet, and the profound love we can find by opening our hearts to unexpected encounters.
This event is free, but an RSVP is required. To RSVP, call 843-723-9912 or fill out the RSVP form at the bottom of this page. Respondents will receive Zoom links and passwords on the afternoon of the event.
To purchase a signed copy of When Harry Met Minnie, click on the link below.
https://buxton-books.square.site/product/when-harry-met-minnie/3432?cs=true&cst=custom
To purchase a signed copy of Mo’s most recent book, Mobituaries, click on the link below.
https://buxton-books.square.site/product/mobituaries-great-lives-worth-reliving/3442?cs=true&cst=custom

Zoom Speaker Series – Music Edition: Richard Bell
2021-03-04 18:00 - 19:00
Zoom Speaker Series – Music Edition: “Hamilton: How the Musical Remixes History” Lecture by Richard Bell
Thursday, March 4 at 6:00 PM
America has Hamilton-mania! With Disney+ now streaming the show, everyone’s talking about Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning musical. Its crafty lyrics, hip-hop tunes, and big, bold story have even rejuvenated interest in the real lives and true histories that Hamilton: the Musical puts center stage. In this talk, which is aimed at people who know the soundtrack or who’ve seen the show, University of Maryland historian Dr. Richard Bell explores this musical phenomenon to reveal what its success tells us about the marriage of history and show-business. We’ll learn what this amazing musical gets right and gets wrong about Alexander Hamilton, the American Revolution, the birth of the United States, and about why all that matters. We will examine some of the choices Hamilton’s creators made to simplify, dramatize, and humanize the complicated events and stories on which the show is based. We will also talk about Hamilton’s cultural impact: what does its runaway success reveal about the stories we tell each other about who we are and about the nation we made?
About Richard:
Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland and author of the new book Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home which was shortlisted for the 2020 George Washington Prize and the 2020 Harriet Tubman Prize. He has held major research fellowships at Yale, Cambridge, and the Library of Congress and is the recipient of the National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar award. He serves as a Trustee of the Maryland Center for History and Culture, as an elected member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, and as a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
This event is free, but an RSVP is required. To RSVP, call (843)723-9912 or fill out the form at the bottom of this page. All respondents will receive their Zoom link and password on the afternoon of the event.
