Laura Pederson, author of
Buffalo Gal: A Memoir

Friday October 31st at 12:00 PM
Fables Café at the Central Library, 1 Lafayette Square

A fabulous one-two literary punch, BUFFALO GAL has the historical sensibility of Russell Baker's GROWING UP combined with the sharp humor of Augusten Burroughs' RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. The 8th largest city in the country in 1901, known for its beauty and progress, blizzard prone Buffalo had slipped to 36th place by the end of the century, with one-third of its citizens on public assistance. Due to its heavy ethnic mix, Catholic majority, and close proximity to Canada, the city was a flash point for race riots, anti-war protests, abortion rallies, bingo, bowling, and Friday night fish frys. Join the Pedersens as they survive separation, stagflation, the energy crisis, and President Jimmy Carter's boozy chain smoking brother marketing his own line of "Billy" beer. (BUFFALO GAL available in stores October 2008.)

Gustav Niebuhr, author of
Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America

Friday August 22nd at 12:00 PM
Fables Café at the Central Library, 1 Lafayette Square

The United States is the most religiously diverse nation in the world and the most religiously diverse collection of people in history. And even in this age of increasing religious violence, there is a growing movement of cooperation: thousands of devout worshippers who are willing to take a gamble on people of radically different faiths. In this insightful, deeply felt examination of the nature of community and religion, former New York Times religion reporter Gustav Niebuhr traces the roots of religious freedom in America and the setbacks and triumphs it has encountered along the way. From Hindus and Quakers in Queens to Catholics and Jews in Baltimore, to black Baptists and Catholics in Louisville, to Catholics and Buddhists in Los Angeles, Niebuhr focuses on the ways people build ties between groups. He looks at why this movement is a particularly American endeavor and how it can save us all. Beyond Tolerance is a handbook for religious cooperation in our fractured times.

William Stolzenburg, author of
Where the Wild Things Were: Life, Death, and Ecological Wreckage in a Land of Vanishing Predators

Friday July 25th at 12:00pm
Fables Café at the Central Library, 1 Lafayette Square

In this impassioned debut, wildlife journalist Stolzenburg examines predation's crucial role in the preservation of ecological diversity, painting nightmarish pictures of what happens when top carnivores are exterminated from ecosystems. Without sea otters to keep ravenous sea urchins in check, some ocean floors in the North Pacific have been stripped of kelp. In Yellowstone National Park, the eradication of wolves has resulted in a glut of elk that have trampled river banks and chewed down young trees. White-tailed deer have denuded the undergrowth in the forests of the eastern United States, because wolves and cougars have disappeared. Without large meat eaters, mid-size predators raccoons, blue jays, crows, squirrels, opossums have proliferated, to the detriment of songbird populations. In dazzling descriptions, Stolzenburg demonstrates how the delicate balance between predator and prey is so essential, and his book, rich in dramatic accounts of life and death in the wild, is powerful and compelling.