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Nerd Nite #56 - American Race Riots: Our National Sport?

The United States has been the site of hundreds of race-based disorderly confrontations that can be described as race riots. By now, most everyone has seen images from riots on TV whether it’s a riot from the 1960s, or from the more recent unrest in Ferguson, Missouri or Baltimore, Maryland.

But what is a riot? Why do they happen?  What are the trends? Common themes?  While one can learn quite a bit from the study of any of these individual events, taking on the topic broadly has different lessons for us.

This talk discusses the overall trajectory of race riots in the United States, exploring the greater context for mass race-based conflict. 

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Author Event | Rhys Bowen & Susan Elia MacNeal

Authors Rhys Bowen and Susan Elia MacNeal visited the Library to discuss their best-selling historical mystery series' and their latest books: Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding (A Royal Spyness novel) and The Prisoner in the Castle (A Maggie Hope novel).  The authors were interviewed by Aunt Agatha's Bookshop owner, Robin Agnew.

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Wayzgoose - Geri McCormick

Geri McCormick of Virgin Wood Type explains the process for making wood type, with a demonstration of the final step — using hand tools to create the points or corners that the router bits can't make.

 

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Wayzgoose - Scott Moore

Scott Moore of Moore Wood Type uses wood patterns and a pantograph to show the process of making new wood printing type. Moore demonstrates how a mix of modern technology and historic processes supports the revitalization of interest in letterpress.

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Studebaker, Packard, Nash, and Hudson

Automotive writer Russell Doré discusses the origins of four major automobile companies of the 20th Century.

Learn how the Studebaker Brothers, the Packard Brothers, Charlie Nash, and Joseph L. Hudson grew their companies and what lead to their ultimate disappearance from the industry. Find out the interesting interactions between these leaders and other major automotive entrepreneurs.

Russell Doré has presented programs on Henry Ford, Walter Chrysler, and Billy Durant, founder of General Motors. He is a member of the MotorCities National Heritage Area, the Henry Ford Heritage Association, and the Northville Historical Society.

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5000 Ways You Know You're From Detroit

Martin Bandyke, morning drive host at Ann Arbor's 107one, hosted this event with Walkerville Publishing's Elaine Weeks and Chris Edwards.  Weeks and Edwards showed images and shared stories from 5000 Ways You Know You're From Detroit: Detroit's Baby Boomer Years, their new coffee table book that shows the highs and lows Detroit has weathered in decades past.

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Irene Butter: From Holocaust to Hope

Irene Butter has shared the stage with the Dalai Lama, Elie Wiesel, Desmond Tutu, and other peacemakers. She is one of the few Holocaust survivors still alive but she has never told her entire story until now.

Irene Butter's definitive biography, Shores Beyond Shores: From Holocaust to Hope, My True Story, brings a fresh, moving tale to the vital genre of Holocaust narratives. Irene’s relationship with her brother Werner allows us to navigate the horrors of concentration camp life with a trusted friend. Her connection to an orphan Polish boy and to Lex, her first love, allow us to explore a displaced persons camp in Algeria and finally, to watch her find her way home. It allows us a rare glimpse into the intimacy of family life during a time in history when many families fell apart.

This timeless story speaks to what we must strive to uphold. It’s about the importance of family, of never being a bystander to violence, and of the strength of the human spirit.

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Unlikely Conductors - Underground Railroad

We learn in history class that the Underground Railroad was extremely instrumental in aiding slaves escaping captivity and searching for freedom. What we don't learn about is the role that Native Americans, who sometimes were slaves themselves, played in helping those slaves get to freedom. 

Join Heather Bruegl, a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, and learn about the important role that Native American people played in the Underground Railroad.

Bruegl, inspired by a trip to Wounded Knee, South Dakota, quickly developed a passion for Native American History. Curiosity for her own heritage led her to Wisconsin, where she researched the history of the Native American tribes of that region. 

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Farm Meals Mentioned in Ypsilanti Farm Diaries

The stories and recollections of Washtenaw County farm women held by the Ypsilanti Historical Society provide a record of daily life in the 19th and 20th centuries. Local author and historian Laura Bien presents research on handwritten diaries that reflect, in their own words, the everyday work farm women performed: gardening, harvesting, butchering, processing, preserving and cooking food for their families, supplementing the family income through the sale of eggs and produce, adapting to technological changes, and organizing work at the homestead.

This event is in partnership with the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor (CHAA), an organization of scholars, cooks, food writers, nutritionists, collectors, students, and others interested in the study of culinary history and gastronomy. Their mission is to promote the study of culinary history through regular programs open to members and guests, through the quarterly newsletter Repast, and through exchanges of information with other such organizations.

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Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Lecture

Walter Everett, Professor of Music at the University of Michigan, presents an analysis of the Beatles' iconic album. 

Professor Everett is the author of the two-volume study, The Beatles as Musicians, and of The Foundations of Rock, from Oxford University Press.

He is currently coauthoring two books: one, with Tim Riley, a textbook aimed at undergraduates not majoring in music that contextualizes the Beatles within the cultural events and attitudes that they helped shaped, and another book with Katie Kapurch on sex and gender in rock music.