Kenneth R. Miller, author of
Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul

Friday December 19th at 12:00 PM
Fables Café at the Central Library, 1 Lafayette Square

At the dawn of the twenty- first century, the debate over Darwin's theory of evolution is nearly as contentious as it was in the notorious Scopes trial a century ago. Today, however, people who believe that evolution is "only a theory" have put their hopes in a concept known as Intelligent Design. In Only a Theory, Kenneth Miller dissects the claims of the ID movement in the same incisive style that marked his testimony as an expert witness in Pennsylvania's landmark 2005 Dover evolution trial.

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.