Autobiography and Biography

On Thursday, March 18, 2010, Mark Hamilton Lytle of Bard College and author of The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement, will give a talk on the scientist. The lecture, part of the University's Great Lives series, is free and open to the public.

She took the throne as a young and somewhat malleable girl, married for love, and spent the greater part of her reign as the formidable Widow of Windsor. Her children and grandchildren held thrones throughout Europe, and the Age of Victoria was known for both domestic reform and colonial conquest. Her long and fascinating life has been the subject of numerous books, films, and television series.

On Thursday, March 11, 2010, Thomas Maier, writer for Newsday and author of Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, will give a talk on the researchers.

On Thursday, March 25, 2010, Caroline Weber of Barnard College and author of Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution, will give a talk on the style icon.

She was one of the world's most famous chefs, but in her long life she had also been a high school basketball player and top secret researcher, as well as making appearances on TV shows ranging from her own myriad cooking series to The Cosby Show to Sesame Street to a beloved parody on Saturday Night Live. She was as much a cultural institution as a culinary artist.

On Tuesday, April 13, 2010, Martin Sherwin, co-author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer will give a talk on the scientist.

"We are not impotent- we pallid stones.
Not all our power is gone- not all our fame-
Not all the magic of our high renown-
Not all the wonder that encircles us-
Not all the mysteries that in us lie-
Not all the memories that hang upon
And cling around about us as a garment,
Clothing us in a robe of more than glory."
---From "The Coliseum" by Edgar Allan Poe

Five Scenes from David Small's "Stitches" from Stitches: A Memoir... on Vimeo.

As if David Small's graphic autobiography Stitches:--A Memoir wasn't powerful enough on its own, five scenes have been turned into eleven minutes of heart-wrenching video.  If you've read the novel, is it worth it?  Absolutely.  Hearing 'mama's little cough," slamming of cupboards and moving her "fork a half inch to the right" further enhances the viewers understanding of David Small's traumatic, childhood home.  If you haven't read this book, which was nominated for the 2009 Young People's Literature Award by the National Book Foundation, place a hold today!  It's worth enjoying in all formats!