Books & Ideas
One of the events at Tivoli Day in Oak Bluffs this year will be a book signing by Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Richard Michelson. Ms. Hunter-Gault is a prize-winning journalist and author of To The Mountaintop. Mr.
The Vineyard Haven Library is hosting a six-week workshop on William Faulkner entitled Discovering Faulkner’s Fiction. Aquinnah summer resident and professor of literature at Swarthmore College, Philip Weinstein will lead the workshop. The first class is on Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. at the library. Subsequent classes will held on Oct. 22, Nov. 5, Nov. 19, Dec. 3 and Dec. 10.
In his latest book Jews, Confucians and Protestants: Cultural Capital and the End of Multiculturalism, Lawrence E. Harrison, a senior research fellow and adjunct lecturer at Tufts University, presents an unorthodox investigation into what constitutes a universal progress culture. He does this by examining cultures through the lens of a set of values that include a focus on education, achievement, merit, frugality and ethical behavior.
It is his belief that these goals are facilitated mostly through the beliefs and attitudes inherent in Jewish, Confucian and Protestant cultures.
Nearly 50 years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, numerous conspiracy theories still compete for attention. A recent study by the History Channel found that 85 per cent of Americans believe the assassination was the result of a plot against the president. Longtime Islander, historian and writer James Reston Jr. has developed his own argument in his new book.
The Christmas holiday season can be a challenging time for American Jews and yet according to Rabbi Joshua Eli Plaut, PhD, former rabbi of the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center, this has not always been the case.
Author Mary Ella Gabler, a summer resident of the Vineyard, releases her latest book, Uncommon Thread on September 1. She will visit Tracker Home Decor at 89 Pease’s Point Way South in Edgartown for a book signing on Wednesday, August 28 from 5 to 8 p.m.