We Are Moving: Have a Drink of Water to Celebrate - The Center for ...

September 2010 | Vol. IX No. 1 

One Civilized Reader Is Worth a Thousand Boneheads 

Nancy Berg 

Professor of Asian and Near Eastern 

Languages and Literatures 

Ken Botnick 

Associate Professor of Art 

Gene Dobbs Bradford 

Executive Director 

Jazz St. Louis 

Lingchei (Letty) Chen 

Associate Professor of Modern Chinese 

Language and Literature 

Elizabeth Childs 

Associate Professor and Chair of 

Department of Art History and 

Archaeology 

Mary-Jean Cowell 

Associate Professor of Performing Arts 

Phyllis Grossman 

Retired Financial Executive 

Michael A. Kahn 

Author and Partner 

Bryan Cave LLP 

Zurab Karumidze 

Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia 

Chris King 

Editorial Director 

The St. Louis American Newspaper 

Olivia Lahs-Gonzales 

Director 

Sheldon Art Galleries 

Paula Lupkin 

Assistant Professor of Architecture 

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts 

Erin McGlothlin 

Associate Professor of German 

Steven Meyer 

Associate Professor of English 

Joe Pollack 

Film and Theater Critic for KWMU, 

Writer 

Anne Posega 

Head of Special Collections, Olin Library 

Qiu Xiaolong 

Novelist and Poet 

Henry Schvey 

Professor of Drama 

Wang Ning 

Professor of English, Tsinghua University 

James Wertsch 

Marshall S. Snow Professor of Arts and 

Sciences 

Associate Vice Chancellor for 

International Affairs 

Ex Officio 

Edward S. Macias 

Provost & Exec VC for Academic Affairs 

Gary S. Wihl 

Dean of Arts & Sciences 

We Are Moving: Have a Drink of 

Water to Celebrate 

The Center for the Humanities will relocate 

to offices on the third floor of Eliot Hall 

this fall semester. This will be the second 

move since our launch in the West Campus 

basement, which housed The International 

Writer’s Center. The shift to Eliot is not 

great in distance, but it is an important 

step forward in the Center’s development 

because it puts us in a more centralized 

location allowing us to serve our humanities 

partners more efficiently. Hence, this 

second move marks a new beginning for the 

Center. 

Our approach to drinking water for the 

relocated Center is also a new beginning. 

One of the up-to-date pieces of equipment 

to be installed is an environmentallyfriendly 

water filtration system for drinking 

water. This may seem an insignificant 

matter because we live in a freshwater 

rich environment. When we think of water 

conservation, we think about it as a problem 

elsewhere in the country or the world. 

Formerly, local or regional shortages could 

be solved by conservation strategies, investment 

in infrastructure, or other resource 

management techniques. Such solutions are 

no longer satisfactory. One reason is the 

increasing world population. As populations 

grow, so does their demand for clean 

visit our blog site at http://cenhum.artsci.wustl.edu/pubs/blog.htm 

water. Another reason is the widespread 

rise in standards of living. Changes in diet 

(more meat, less grain) and in sanitation 

(plumbing, sewers) increase our demands 

for water. The World Bank estimates that 

worldwide water demand is doubling every 

twenty-one years (more in some regions). 

This growth requires potentially unsustainable 

levels of irrigation. In her book 

Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle 

Last Sandra Postel looks back on 8,000 

years of irrigation and considers the possibilities 

of how technology will feed the 

world’s population as it approaches seven 

billion (the United Nations projects nine 

billion by 2050). The dramatic increase in 

population is already causing depletion of 

groundwater and surface water resources, 

making irrigation more difficult and expensive. 

Moreover, an increase in soil salinity 

caused by the irrigation practices of industrial 

farming leads to deteriorating yields. 

This problem cannot be solved by adding 

more agricultural acreage, or by increasing 

productivity, because water is the limiting 

factor. One result will be rapid increases in 

global food costs. Emerging water shortages 

in China are already threatening grain 

production there, and China’s potential

editor's notes continued 

demand is so great that it 

cannot import the grain it 

needs without driving world 

grain prices up. Citizens of 

less wealthy nations suffering 

water shortages will 

be able to afford even less 

food. 

This situation may seem 

unlikely. When viewed 

from outer space, our earth 

is a beautiful blue orb with 

an abundance of surface 

water. Yet only a miniscule 

amount of that water is 

accessible, fresh drinking 

water. In Water: The Epic 

Struggle for Wealth, Power, 

and Civilization, Steven 

Solomon notes that “only 2.5 percent of Earth’s water 

is fresh and two-thirds of that is locked away in ice 

caps and glaciers.” Another third is also inaccessible, 

or prohibitively expensive to extract, because it lies 

in subterranean aquifers, many a half-mile or more 

deep. Solomon concludes, “In all less than threetenths 

of 1 percent of total freshwater is in liquid 

form on the surface.” 

Worse yet is the depletion by overuse of existing 

supplies in renewable, accessible freshwater ecological 

systems. It appears that our species’ long history 

of freshwater abundance is gradually being replaced 

by a new age that, Solomon claims, “will be characterized 

by acute disparities in water wealth, chronic 

insufficiencies, and deteriorating environmental sustainability 

across many of the more heavily populated 

parts of the planet.” The age of water scarcity has 

already begun. The World Bank reports that eighty 

countries now have water shortages threatening 

health and economic stability. More than two billion 

people—nearly 40% of the world’s population—have 

no access to clean water or adequate sanitation. 

Of course, if you have money, water can be 

bought. Consider the Middle-Eastern Shangri-La 

of Dubai. One of the seven United Arab Emirates, 

Dubai lies in the Arabian Desert and receives about 

5.91 inches of rain per year. Yet, in this hot and arid 

climate (the average high temperature is around 

104 degrees Fahrenheit), the city of Dubai 

Trevi Fountain, Rome, December 2007 

(Courtesy of author) 

has become a glittering 

monument to enterprise 

and capitalism. In his 

article on the dark side 

of this creation, however, 

Johann Hari reports that 

Dubai, recently exposed 

for living beyond its financial 

means, is also living 

beyond its ecological 

means (The Independent, 

April 7, 2009). There are 

manicured lawns with 

sprinklers all around, a 

mountain-sized freezer 

with a ski slope covered 

by real snow, and a new 

golf course that requires 

four million gallons of 

water to be pumped onto 

its grounds every day. But this showcase city has 

been built in a place that has no useable water. There 

is no surface water and very little aquifer (trapped 

underground) water. Dubai uses seawater processed 

through desalinization plants placed in the Gulf. 

The result is water that is more expensive to produce 

than the petrol in the oil the Arab Emirates sell to 

sustain Dubai. A recession that severely reduces the 

demand for oil and the revenues that support the 

desalinization plants threatens Dubai’s existence. But 

Dubai’s existence threatens the global environment. 

The desalinization process produces large amounts 

of carbon dioxide and, as Hari notes, is “the main 

reason why a resident of Dubai has the biggest average 

carbon footprint of any human being – more than 

double that of an American.” 

In Dubai, oil buys water. But we are running out of 

both. And it is possible that water will soon overtake 

oil as the world’s scarcest critical natural resource. 

That would be very bad news. We can find a substitute 

for oil and restructure our lives around alternative 

energies, but there is no substitute for water. 

The potential for water wars is high. According to 

the World Bank more than a dozen nations receive 

most of their water from rivers that cross borders of 

neighboring countries viewed as hostile. Nowhere 

is this truer than in the Middle East. The Middle 

East is the first major region to run out of sufficient

ook of the month by Gerald Early 

water to grow enough food to feed its 

population or to provide a long-term 

improvement in living standards. 

As Solomon writes, “(I)t is hardly 

surprising that the vast dry-land belt 

stretching from North Africa and 

the Middle East to the Indus valley 

is also one of the world’s most politically 

volatile regions.” Many of these 

countries survive by importing food, 

what Solomon terms ‘virtual water,’ 

and by pumping water out of the aquifers 

faster than nature can recharge 

them. The efficient use of water in 

the earth’s more arid areas like the 

Middle East is a necessary, but ultimately 

insufficient, response. New 

water supplies are needed. To supplement 

its water supply (and remove one 

of the Palestinian complaints about 

Israeli control of water in the region), 

Israel is turning to more efficient and 

less expensive large-scale desalinization 

processes using reverse-osmosis 

techniques to filter out the salt. Where 

older methods resulted in water 

that cost a hundred times more than 

natural water, this process delivers 

high-quality freshwater at under two 

times the cost. Whether it is economical 

or not as measured in conventional 

terms, this method is far cheaper for 

Israel than on-going hostilities over 

water resources with its neighbors. 

Benjamin Franklin once noted, 

“When the well is dry, we learn the 

worth of water.” In the new age of 

water scarcity, the value of water is 

increasing rapidly. In some areas it is 

already priceless. So, please visit us 

and raise a glass of pure, clean, fresh 

water to toast our new location. 

Jian Leng 

Associate Director 

The Center for the Humanities 

Review of 

A Safe Haven: 

Harry S. Truman 

and the Founding of Israel 

By Allis Radosh and 

Ronald Radosh 

HarperCollins, 2009, 428 pages 

including index, bibliography, 

notes, and photos 

On May 14, 1948, at 6:11 p.m. in 

Washington D.C. (a bit after midnight 

in Palestine), shortly after 

Israel declared itself an independent, 

sovereign nation, President 

Truman recognized the new Jewish 

state, making the United States 

the very first nation to do so. This 

simple but momentous act was 

the culmination of several years 

of bitterly contentious, sometimes 

shrewd, sometimes clumsy, political 

maneuverings on the part of 

several actors, Truman, arguably, 

being the most important, certainly 

the most influential, of them. 

Allis Radosh and Ronald Radosh’s 

A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman 

and the Founding of Israel is the 

story of the events, told from an 

American perspective, starting 

with the end of World War II and 

the death of President Roosevelt, 

that led to the creation of Israel 

and America’s de facto recognition 

of it, a crucial act that guaranteed 

the new state’s legitimacy. 

The Radoshes’ book opens with 

Roosevelt during World War II 

and the rise of intense Jewish 

lobbying (with help from gentile 

sympathizers) of the president to 

gain support for doing something 

to save Jews from extermination 

in Europe. As the Nazis 

controlled most of Europe, it was 

virtually impossible for Jews to 

escape them, and as most American 

consul offices in Europe were 

closed because of the war, it was 

impossible to get an American 

visa, difficult for Jews to get under 

even “normal” circumstances in 

the 1930s before the war. Cries 

went up for the creation of a Jewish 

army (something that Truman, 

as a senator from Missouri, 

briefly supported) and, of course, 

for immigration to Palestine and 

the creation of a Jewish state 

because it was the statelessness 

of the Jews, as defined by Jews 

themselves, combined with the 

cultural and political persistence 

of anti-Semitism, that made them 

vulnerable to genocide and policies 

of expulsion. Roosevelt, as 

with any good politician, relied on 

the fact that the Jews as a pressure 

group were divided—some 

strongly Zionist and some intensely 

anti-Zionist—which meant that 

he could pick and choose among 

those he wanted to deal with 

and that he could play one group 

against another. He told them all 

that America must win the war 

first before the country could 

do anything for the Jews.

ook of the month continued 

Relying on his personal charm 

and great powers of persuasion, 

Roosevelt felt he could solve the 

problem of the Jewish homeland 

question by persuading King 

Saud of Saudi Arabia to give the 

Jews territory in Palestine. He 

chose to meet Saud right after the 

Yalta conference in February 1945, 

gravely ill himself at this point 

and fewer than two months away 

from death. A sick Roosevelt was 

not at his best with Saud, but he 

thought he still would be good 

enough. Yet Roosevelt was confused 

about Palestine: he promised 

that no solution was to be implemented 

that was not approved by 

both the Jews and the Arabs, a 

point that Arabs kept returning to 

in subsequent years of negotiating 

about the fate of Palestine, and that 

he wanted Arab autonomy in the 

region, nevertheless he also promised 

that Palestine should be for the 

Jews. What Roosevelt discovered 

in meeting Saud was that the Arabs 

were absolutely obdurate in their 

position: Palestine must be an Arab 

state with a Jewish minority, and no 

further Jewish immigration should 

be permitted. Palestine was historically 

Arab land: end of discussion. 

He could not convince Saud 

to relinquish even a square mile of 

Palestine to the Jews. Good politician 

that he was, Roosevelt was 

stunned by the Arab leader’s refusal 

to bargain in any way in light of the 

fact that he would have received 

countless concessions in exchange 

for territory for Jewish immigrants. 

(Part of the problem was that Jews 

went from 11 percent of the population 

of Palestine in 1922 to 30 

percent in 1945.) Roosevelt died in 

April 1945, mixed-up and frustrated 

about Palestine. Truman inherited 

this confusion and frustration. On 

the part of the Arabs, there was 

no confusion. Their position 

never changed: No Jewish state in 

Palestine. No more Jewish immigration, 

ever. 

The Zionists were, of course, 

pressing for a homeland in Palestine 

based on the promise of the 1917 

Balfour Declaration, later sanctioned 

by the League of Nations, 

that granting the British mandate in 

Palestine also guaranteed “a National 

Home for the Jewish people.” 

The debate was over exactly what 

“a National Home” meant. Zionists 

thought it meant an independent 

state and unlimited Jewish immigration 

to Palestine. The British, in 

issuing their White Paper of 1939, 

thought it meant a great deal less 

than that, certainly not a Jewish 

state, and greatly restricted Jewish 

entry to Palestine. The British in 

their administration of Palestine had 

always seemed more partial to the 

Arabs, which may have stemmed 

in part from the fact that Jews did 

not constitute any sort of political 

constituency in England in the 

way they did in areas of the United 

States during and after World War 

II. It may have been that the Orientalists 

and Middle Eastern academic 

specialists in England simply 

found the Arabs more attractive and 

romantic as an expression of otherness: 

Arabic, Islam, and empire, a 

heady combination. (The same was 

generally true in the United States.) 

T. E. Lawrence was a perfect example 

of that mindset. It must be 

remembered, however, that during 

World War I the British tried to 

persuade the Arabs through Lawrence 

(Lawrence of Arabia, his nom 

de guerre) to begin the process of 

entente with the Jews, particularly 

so after the Balfour Declaration. Indeed, 

Lawrence served as translator 

for a meeting between Arab leader 

Prince Feisal and the redoubtable 

Zionist Chaim Weizmann during 

which Weizmann tried to convince 

Feisal, as Lawrence had tried to do, 

of the advantage of Jewish skills 

and capital in developing Palestine. 

The selling point for the Jews in 

Palestine was always, in essence, 

their “superiority” over the Arabs, 

something that was noted by virtually 

all the area’s visitors, from 

Lawrence to the members of the 

1947 Anglo-American Committee 

of Inquiry. Jewish Palestine had 

schools, crops, irrigation, prosperity; 

Arab Palestine was illiterate, 

squalid, poor, undeveloped, and 

backwards. Roosevelt, before he 

died, expressed the hope, according 

to the Radoshes, that “a Jewish state 

could be a model of social policy 

and would help raise living standards 

throughout the Middle East.” 

This sort of argument, through no 

fault of the Jews, was doomed to 

fail. No doubt Jewish leaders had 

a point when they said that corrupt 

Arab leadership would turn a deaf 

ear to this argument, as it was, in 

effect, to them the threat of reformism 

or modernization. But there 

is more: to accept this argument 

would be tantamount to the Arabs 

acknowledging their inferiority and 

requesting a kind of mentorship 

with the West and, to add insult to 

injury, accepting such mentorship 

at the hands of a people (the Jews) 

the West itself, at best, felt ambivalent 

about. No so-called “inferior” 

people are ever going to do that no 

matter what it costs them. Speaking 

as a member of a group that 

has been stigmatized as inferior, I 

know what it is like to be a compulsive 

prisoner of one’s racial/ethnic 

pride, to say no, to be stiff-necked, 

even when it is clearly against one’s 

best interests to do so. Thus the 

argument was doomed to fail, also, 

through no fault of the Arabs. 

By the end of World War II, an

intractable situation had become 

dire: the remnant of European 

Jews who had survived the Holocaust 

and who still lived under 

horrible conditions in camps 

as Displaced Persons wanted 

to emigrate to Palestine. They 

did not wish to return to their 

European homes where they 

were still, even after the war, 

subject to pogroms and massacres. 

The Zionists pressed hard 

for increased immigration. The 

British opposed it, allowing only 

a trickle of 1500 a month to go to 

Palestine. The British feared a 

bloodbath in the area if the Jews 

were allowed to enter freely as the 

Arabs were violently opposed to 

any more “colonist” Jews coming 

to Palestine. (Lawrence in a letter 

to Sir Mark Sykes wrote that Feisal 

distinguished between Palestine 

Jews and colonist Jews as “the 

former speak Arabic, and the latter 

German Yiddish.” Feisal was much 

more favorably disposed to Palestine 

Jews.) Arab oil deposits were 

very important to American and 

British refineries. Oil was important 

to the West not only for economic 

growth but also to win wars. 

(In a war between advanced states, 

the side with the most oil to fuel its 

machines usually wins!) Moreover, 

the British and the American State 

Department greatly feared that the 

Arabs would join the Soviet bloc 

if Jews became too numerous in 

Palestine and if there was a Jewish 

state. (In the end, Arab states joined 

the “non-aligned” movement.) The 

West needed the Arabs. 

British leaders—Labor Party 

Prime Minister Clement Atlee and 

Foreign Minister Ernest Bevins— 

were not very sympathetic to the 

plight of surviving European Jews, 

feeling they should be treated no 

differently than other Displaced 

Shortly after becoming president, Truman stopped 

by to see Eddie Jacobson’s new Kansas City store, 

Westport Menswear. (Courtesy Kansas City Star) 

Persons and that they should wait 

their place in the queue, as it was 

so Englishly put, and stop being 

pushy. For their part, the Jews 

were not going to accept minority 

status in an Arab Palestine. After 

all, as Jews constantly reminded 

everyone, many Arabs had been 

collaborators with the Nazis during 

World War II in an effort to 

break British colonial rule and to 

have a European ally whose radical 

anti-Semitism matched their own. 

(“[Nazi] propaganda [in the Arab 

world] combined appeals to secular 

Arab nationalists with distinctly 

religious appeals to Muslims.” See 

Jeffrey Herf, Nazi Propaganda for 

the Arab World, Yale University 

Press, 2009.) If Rommel had won 

in North Africa, nothing would 

have stopped the extermination of 

700,000 Jews in Palestine. Certainly 

the Arabs there would not 

have. They would have helped the 

Nazis. The story of Grand Mufti 

of Jerusalem Muhammed Amin 

al-Husseini’s friendship with Hitler 

was well known. The Arabs, for 

their part, argued that the genocide 

of the Jews occurred in Europe and 

that is where the Jews should be 

given their remedy and their reparations. 

Why should the Arabs be 

asked to bear the burden of 

solving the Jewish Problem in 

Europe However much the 

Jews may call out the Arabs, 

and rightly so, for their anti- 

Semitism, the Arabs reasonably 

responded that their anti- 

Semitism was not the cause of 

the Jewish Problem in Europe. 

Neither side wanted a federated 

state or a trusteeship under the 

United Nations, which is what 

the American State Department 

preferred under some delusion 

that the U.N. called manage the 

Palestine problem better than 

the British. Into this quagmire 

waded President Truman, head held 

high, determined that if he had to 

drown through political ineptitude, 

it would be as a true Bible-believing 

Christian and a president loyal to 

his country. 

Dean Acheson, who served as 

Assistant Secretary of State, Under 

Secretary of State, and Secretary of 

State under Truman, described Truman’s 

engagement with Palestine in 

this way in his autobiography, Present 

at the Creation: My Years in the 

State Department (1969), quoting 

phrases from Truman’s autobiography: 

“Almost immediately upon becoming 

President, Mr. Truman with 

the best will in the world tackled 

that immensely difficult international 

puzzle—a homeland in Palestine 

for the Jews . . . .The fate of the 

Jewish victims of Hitlerism was a 

‘matter of deep personal concern’ to 

him and as President he ‘undertook 

to do something about it.’” According 

to the Radoshes, Truman 

had three major problems: First, 

his State Department strongly opposed 

any policy favorable toward 

a Jewish state in Palestine. Even 

Acheson wrote, “I did not share the 

President’s views on the Palestine 

solution . . .” The State

ook of the month continued 

Department in fact undercut Truman’s 

efforts to increase the number 

of DPs who could emigrate to 

Palestine. So great was the tension 

between Truman and his Secretary 

of State at the time, General 

George Marshall, that Marshall 

told him at a meeting that he could 

not vote for a president who held 

Truman’s position. Second, Atlee 

and Bevins were, from Truman’s 

point of view, obstructionists, 

who both opposed the establishment 

of a Jewish state and were 

not pleased at presiding over the 

administrative dissolution of the 

British Empire. If one thinks that 

the “special” relationship between 

Britain and the United States is 

strained now, a look at the Palestine 

issue reveals that it was a great deal 

more strained immediately after the 

war when Britain needed American 

money to survive. In fairness to 

Bevins, he felt that the establishment 

of a Jewish state was itself an 

admission of anti-Semitism and that 

the future of European Jewry was 

as an assimilated group in Europe. 

(This was the position of a fair 

number of American Jews until the 

DP situation became unbearable.) 

For Bevins, a Jewish homeland 

signified a victory for Hitler, putting 

the Jews in a spiritual concentration 

camp and defining them forever as 

interlopers and an eternal enemy of 

the Arabs. Third, Truman wanted 

to do what he felt Roosevelt wanted, 

but the problem was that no one 

really knew what Roosevelt wanted. 

At the very end, the Radoshes are 

not so sure that Israel would have 

been created had Roosevelt lived. 

Truman himself was never completely 

sold on the Jewish state idea 

and much preferred a pluralistic 

democracy jointly run by Jews and 

Arabs. He vacillated and bitterly 

complained about the pressure 

tactics of the Zionists. But 

When Truman’s presidency ended, he 

returned home to Independence, Missouri, 

and was often sighted in nearby Kansas City 

taking walks and having lunch with his 

friend Eddie Jacobson. 

(Harry S. Truman Library) 

Truman was also deeply influenced 

by his biblical readings (he was 

very well-read in the Bible and apparently 

accepted it as literal truth). 

He also had an abiding friendship 

with Eddie Jacobson, a Jew he 

knew well back during his days 

in the Army when they both ran a 

canteen together. Later, they would 

be partners in a haberdashery that 

failed. Jacobson, who became a Zionist, 

would be a decided influence 

on Truman during the days of the 

British evacuation of Palestine and 

the deliberations on the formation of 

a Jewish state. 

A Safe Haven is a well-written, 

first-rate account of Truman and the 

formation of Israel, accessible and 

highly informative for the general 

reader. Although it covers a lot 

of the same ground as Michael J. 

Cohen’s Truman and Israel (University 

of California Press, 1990), 

both books are useful and should 

be read by anyone interested in this 

important topic. I was particularly 

impressed with the Radoshes’ 

comparison of Truman’s struggle 

with Palestine to Lincoln’s struggle 

with slavery. Ideologues and 

revolutionists don’t create change 

as often as we like to think; 

shrewd, calculating politicians do 

so successfully more often than 

we think. 

In addressing Truman’s motives, 

the Radoshes write: “The British 

and the State Department viewed 

Truman’s actions regarding the 

creation of Israel as the result of 

political expediency, i.e., a need 

for the Jewish vote or Jewish 

campaign contributions.” Yet, as 

the Radoshes explain, if Truman 

sought the Jewish vote, he failed to 

get it in the 1948 election, losing it 

in New York to Progressive Henry 

Wallace. (Arabs, of course, and 

Muslims were a negligible portion 

of the American electorate at this 

time, which put them at a severe 

disadvantage insofar as appealing to 

American public opinion. The fact 

that many Arabs were Axis sympathizers 

did not help either with 

the American public.) Moreover, 

Truman failed to exploit situations 

where he could have made blatant 

appeals to Jewish voters. The recognition 

of Israel was something he 

thought to be in the best interest of 

the United States. 

Finally, the declaration of recognition 

did not guarantee Israel’s 

survival as the armies of five Arab 

states—Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, 

Iraq, and Egypt—attacked Israel 

almost immediately. The Arabs lost 

on the battlefield. For Israel, this 

was not the end. This was not even 

the beginning of the end. This was 

just the end of the beginning.

announcements 

Announcing the Center for the Humanities 

Grant Winners' Events 

Faculty Seminar One-Year Grant 

Intimate Histories of the Cold War and Decolonization, 

Co-Conveners: Jean Allman, J. H. Hexter 

Professor in the Humanities and Chair, Department 

of History; and Andrea Friedman, Associate Professor, 

Department of History, and Associate Professor, 

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. 

The Faculty Seminar on Intimate Histories of the 

Cold War and Decolonization will run from September 

2010 through April 2011. In the fall, participants will 

constitute themselves as a reading group, exploring 

state-of-the-field scholarship that is both comparative 

and transnational and concerned with issues of gender, 

sexuality, culture, and race. In the spring semester, 

participants will focus on their own research and writing, 

concluding the year’s work with a two-day retreat 

focused on future collaborative research. 

The seminar’s first meeting will be held on Tuesday, 

September 21, at 5:00 p.m., location TBA. Faculty and 

post-doctoral fellows interested in participating in the 

seminar should contact Jean Allman (jallman@wustl. 

edu) or Andrea Friedman (asfriedm@artsci.wustl.edu) 

in order to receive copies of the readings. The first 

book to be discussed is Kelly and Kaplan’s Represented 

Communities. 

Faculty and Graduate Students 

Reading Group Grants 

Medieval Courtly Culture, Conveners: William 

Layher, Assistant Professor, German Languages and 

Literatures; Jessica Rosenfeld, Assistant Professor, 

Department of English; Julie Singer, Assistant Professor, 

Romance Languages and Literatures (French); 

and Alicia Walker, Assistant Professor, Art History 

and Archaeology 

Participants in Medieval Courtly Culture will discuss 

published research and work in progress on the 

topic of medieval courts across western European, 

Byzantine, and Islamic cultures. Topics will include 

the construction of court-centered identity; the patronage 

and dissemination of art, philosophy, and natural 

science; and the negotiation of gender in courtly 

contexts. We will meet on the following Wednesday 

evenings, 5:00-7:00 p.m. (location TBA): October 13, 

October 20, November 3, November 10, February 9, 

February 16, March 2, and March 9. For more information, 

or to be placed on the listserv for the reading 

group, please contact William Layher (wlayher@ 

wustl.edu) in the German department. 

The Meta-Ethics Reading Group, Convener: Martin 

Turner, Graduate Student in Philosophy 

In the fall 2010 semester, the Meta-Ethics Reading 

Group will be discussing Richard Joyce’s two books 

The Myth of Morality and The Evolution of Morality. 

Joyce, a philosopher at the University of Sydney, 

researches how empirical findings in psychology, 

neuroscience, and social sciences bear on questions 

concerning the foundations of ethics. In The Myth of 

Morality, Joyce contends that there are no facts as to 

what is right and wrong or good and bad, and that morality 

is simply a useful fiction. In The Evolution of 

Morality, he asks whether the human tendency to moralize 

is an innate trait that has resulted from evolution, 

or a largely social construction, and considers how 

this issue bears on the reverence we ought to afford 

the institution of morality. Together these books investigate 

basic questions of why we judge that certain 

things are right or wrong, and whether this practice 

can be justified. These issues are certain to appeal 

to academics across a wide range of disciplines. The 

Meta-Ethics Reading Group will be meeting biweekly 

on Thursday afternoons, from 2:45 to 4:00 p.m., 

starting in early September, in Room 307, Eliot Hall, 

Danforth Campus. 

Transatlantic Crossings Reading Group, Conveners: 

Ignacio Infante, Assistant Professor, Comparative 

Literature and Romance Languages and

announcements continued 

Literatures (Spanish); Jessica Hutchins, Graduate 

Student in Comparative Literature; and Nicholas Tamarkin, 

MFA and Graduate Student in Comparative 

Literature 

The Transatlantic Crossings Reading Group will 

explore different cultural forms that are connected to 

and emerge from a transatlantic framework which, as 

we believe, constitutes an extremely relevant intellectual 

space for the analysis of artistic production, 

cultural encounter, translation and the experience 

of migration across the Atlantic. We will focus our 

activities during 2010-2011 on the theme of “Transatlantic 

Performance.” During the fall 2010 semester 

we are planning to read Joseph Roach’s Cities of 

the Dead: Circum-Atlantic Performance, as well as 

various essays from the collection Atlantic Genealogies 

edited by Ian Baucom (we will provide copies 

of these readings to all Reading Group participants). 

The Transatlantic Crossings Reading Group will meet 

this fall every other Tuesday in Eliot 307 (Center for 

the Humanities) at 4:00 p.m., starting on September 

28. If you are interested in participating in this group 

and would like to be included on our listserv, please 

contact Ignacio Infante at the following email address: 

iinfante@wustl.edu. 

Interdisciplinary Film Studies Reading Group, 

Conveners: Antoine Krieger, Graduate Student in 

Romance Languages and Literatures; and Anne Fritz, 

Graduate Student in Germanic Languages and Literatures 

and Comparative Literature 

The Interdisciplinary Film Studies Reading Group 

seeks to bring together faculty and graduate students 

from many departments who share a scholarly interest 

in film. Our meetings will provide opportunities for 

faculty and students to exchange and compare their 

methodologies and perspectives that are informed 

by their various disciplinary backgrounds. Meetings 

will alternate between discussions of significant 

works of film theory and history and participant-led 

film screenings and discussions. The screenings/discussions 

will provide a forum for members to present 

their work, whether published or unpublished. In addition 

to Washington University faculty members, we 

also hope to invite guest speakers from neighboring 

universities to present their work or lead a discussion 

of a critical text. We will meet every other Tuesday at 

6:15 p.m. in Eliot 307. For further information, contact 

Antoine Krieger (aekriege@gmail.com) or Anne Fritz 

(aefritz@artsci.wustl.edu). 

Monday Book and Discussion Group of the Department 

of Economics, Convener: Nicholas Papageorge, 

Graduate Student in Economics 

Participants in the Monday Book and Discussion 

Group of the Department of Economics meet weekly 

to discuss books of interest to researchers in economics. 

Books we discuss are not necessarily written by 

academic economists nor always related to the economy 

or economics per se. Instead, we choose books 

that enrich our expertise by: (1) Exposing us to writings 

by non-economists on subjects we study, and/or 

(2) Allowing us to apply our training in economics to 

topics not directly related to economics. An example 

of the first sort of book would be The Ascent of Money 

by Niall Ferguson. An example of the second would 

be Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. 

Since the inception of this group in fall 2007, book 

choices have been determined at the start of each semester. 

Group members suggest titles, and the group 

as a whole negotiates a final list. The aim in compiling 

a final book list is to follow a broad theme. In both 

the fall of 2007 and spring of 2008, our theme was 

economic history and the industrial revolution. Book 

choices included George Huppert’s After the Black 

Death and The Industrial Revolutionaries by Gavin 

Weightman. In the fall of 2009, we turned our attention 

to globalization and read books including Power 

and Plenty by Ronald Findlay and Kevin H. O’Rourke 

and Making Globalization Work by Joseph E. Stiglitz. 

Currently, we are reading works by authors who 

have broached the topic of causality. Book choices 

include Preparing For the Twenty-First Century by 

Paul Kennedy and Causal Models by Steven Sloman. 

The group meets each Monday, 6:00-8:00 p.m., in 

Seigle 334. Note that book discussions are biweekly. 

On alternate Mondays, group members volunteer 

to present their current research in economics. 

For more information about the Center for the Humanities 

Faculty Seminar Grants and Reading Group 

Grants, go to our website at http://cenhum.artsci. 

wustl.edu.

Events in 

September 

All events are free unless otherwise indicated. 

Author events generally followed by signings. 

All phone numbers have 314 prefix unless 

otherwise indicated. 

Wednesday, September 1 

Borders Book Club will meet to discuss 

River of Doubt by Candice Millard. 7pm, Border’s 

Cafe in Sunset Hills, 10990 Sunset Hills 

Plaza, 909-0300. 

You are invited to join the Thornhill Book 

Chat for a lively book discussion. 10:30am, 

SLCL-Thornhill Branch, 12863 Willowyck 

Dr., please call 994-3300 for the current book 

selection. 

Thursday, September 2 

Join the Trailblazers Book Club for their 

discussion of The Help by Kathryn Stockett. 

SLCL-Jamestown Bluffs Branch, 4153 N. 

Hwy 67, please call 994-3300 for the time of 

the event. 

You are welcome to join Book Journeys 

for their discussion of Half Broke Horses by 

Jeannette Walls. 2pm, SLCL-Indian Trails 

Branch, 8400 Delport, 994-3300. 

KPL Readers’ Circle Book Club invites you 

to join their discussion of Princess by Jean 

Sasson. 7pm, Kirkwood Public Library, 140 

E. Jefferson, 821-5770. 

Join the Mystery Book Club for their discussion 

of Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii by Lee Goldberg. 

7pm, SLCL-Florissant Valley Branch, 

195 New Florissant Rd. S., 994-3300. 

Friday, September 3 

You are invited to join author Cassandra 

Clare as she presents her latest book, Clockwork 

Angels, the first installment in a new 

series set in Victorian England. 7pm, SLCL- 

Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 994- 

3300. 

Saturday, September 4 

You are invited to the St. Louis Writers Guild 

Workshop: “Using Photography in your Writing” 

presented by Harry Jackson, Jr., awardwinning 

journalist. 10am, Kirkwood Community 

Center, 111 S. Geyer Rd., free to SLWG 

members, $5 for nonmembers. Please register 

in advance at: www.stlwritersguild.org. 

Main Street Books is hosting Margaret Norton, 

who will sign her memoir, When Ties 

Break. 1pm, 307 S. Main St., St. Charles, 

636-949-0105. 

Monday, September 6 

Main Street Books invites you to a discussion 

of the book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 

by Stieg Larsson. 7pm, 307 S. Main St., 

St. Charles, 636-949-0105. 

Observable Readings starts the 2010-2011 

season on Labor Day, with Scott Cairns 

and Richard Newman. Reading starts at 

8pm and is free at Schlafly Bottleworks, 7260 

Southwest. REMINDER: OBSERVABLE HAS 

MOVED TO FIRST MONDAYS. 

Tuesday, September 7 

You are invited to join the Machacek Book 

Discussion Group. 10am, SLPL-Machacek 

Branch, 6424 Scanlan Ave., please call 781- 

2948 for the current selection. 

Join a discussion of Various Flavors of Coffee 

by Anthony Capella. 7pm, SLCL-Meramec 

Valley Branch, 625 New Smizer Mill Rd., 

994-3300. 

Join the Book Bunch for their discussion of 

She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb. 7pm, 

SLCL-Grand Glaize Branch, 1010 Meramec 

Station Rd. Call 994-3300 to register. 

You are invited to join Left Bank Books for a 

reading and book signing with Jess Walter, 

author of The Financial Lives of Poets. 7pm, 

399 North Euclid, 367-6731. 


The Bookies invite you to a discussion of 

City of Falling Angels by John Berendt. 2pm, 

SLCL-Oak Bend Branch, 842 S. Holmes 

Ave, 994-3300. 

Join Boone’s Bookies for their discussion of 

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. 

SLCL-Daniel Boone Branch, 300 Clarkson 

Rd., please call 994-3300 to register and for 

the time of the event. 


The HQ Afternoon Book Discussion Group 

welcomes you as they discuss, Blessings by 

Anna Quindlen. 1:30pm, SLCL-Headquarters, 

1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 994-3300. 

Join the Thursday Matinee Book Club for 

their book discussion. 1:30pm, SLCL-Natural 

Bridge Branch, 7606 Natural Bridge Rd., 

please call 994-3300 for this month’s book 

selection. 

Join the Murder of the Month Club for their 

discussion of Valley of the Lost by Vicki Delaney. 

3:30pm, SLCL-Indian Trails Branch, 

8400 Delport, 994-3300. 

You are invited to join the Urban Street Lit 

Café Book Discussion Group for their discussion 

of Joy Comes in the Morning by 

Ashea Goldson. 6:30pm, SLPL-Julia Davis, 

4415 Natural Bridge Ave., 383-3021. 

Join Public Contemplations, a philosophy 

and religion discussion group, for their discussion 

of Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and 

the Search for the American Dream by Adam 

Shepard. 7pm, SLPL-Carpenter Branch, 

3309 South Grand Blvd., please call 772-6586 

to reserve a copy. 


Join Great Expectations for their discussion 

of The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carlton. 

10am, SLCL-Rock Road Branch, 10267 St. 

Charles Rock Rd., 994-3300. 

Second Friday Notes, A new poetry and 

music series will debut at Whole Foods Market 

in Town & Country. The first “Second Friday 

Notes” will feature live music with poetry. 

Poets for the evening will be drawn from 

among St. Louis area poets featured in the 

recently published Flood Stage: An Anthology 

of St. Louis Poets. St. Louis poet, Dwight 

Bitikofer will be the emcee for the event as 

well as a participant. 7pm, Whole Foods Market 

at Clayton and Woods Mill, 1160 Town and 

Country Crossing Drive 636-527-1160. The 

event is co-sponsored by the St. Louis Poetry 

Center, www.stlouispoetrycenter.org. 


You are welcome to join The BookClub’s 

416 th discussion on The Guernsey Literary 

and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer 

and Annie Barrows. For more information 

about time and location, contact Lloyd at lloydk@klinedinst.com 

or 636-451-3232. 


UMSL Center for Humanities invites you to 

hear Billie McKindra Phillips read from her 

recently published collection of poetry, Seconds 

of Joy, and share with the audience stories 

about what inspired the poems. Phillips is 

retired supervisor of art for the St. Louis Public 

Schools and is now a docent for the St. Louis 

Art Museum. 12:15pm, 222 JC Penney Center, 

UM-St. Louis, 516-5699. 

Come to the Monday Book Discussion 

Group. 1pm, SLCL-Weber Road Branch,

st. louis literary calendar 

4444 Weber Rd., please call 994-3300 for the 

book selection. 

Lifescapes’s book discussion and writing 

group for seniors invites you to join them. 

1:30pm, SLCL-Natural Bridge Branch, 7606 

Natural Bridge Rd. please call 994-3300 for 

this month’s book selection. 

Join the Central Book Discussion Too! for 

their discussion of A Clockwork Orange by 

Anthony Burgess in celebration of Banned 

Books Week. 6:30pm, SLPL-Buder Branch, 

lower level conference room, 4401 Hampton 

Ave., 352-2900. 

Bestselling suspense author of the espionage 

classic Gorky Park, Martin Cruz Smith, presents 

a haunting vision of an emergent Russia’s 

secret underclass in his novel Three 

Stations. 7pm, SLCL-Headquarters, 1640 S. 

Lindbergh Blvd., 994-3300. 

Washington University’s Assembly Series, 

the First Year Center, and the School of Law 

present Arsalan Iftikhar, author of the popular 

blog TheMuslimGuy.com, who will discuss 

themes from The Reluctant Fundamentalist 

by Mosin Hamid, this year’s Freshman Reading 

Program selection. 7pm, College Hall, WU 

Danforth Campus, 935-4620 or visit http://assemblyseries.wustl.edu/. 


Join Grand Glaize Library for their book 

discussion group on The Girls from Ames by 

Jeffrey Zaslow. 2pm, SLCL-Grand Glaize 

Branch, 1010 Meramec Station Rd., 994- 

3300. 

Join Pageturners for their discussion of Harry 

Truman’s Excellent Adventure: The True Story 

of a Great American Road Trip by Matthew 

Algeo. SLCL-Tesson Ferry Branch, 9920 

Lin-Ferry Dr., please call 994-3300 to register 

and to obtain the time of the event. 

Join the As the Page Turns book discussion 

group as they discuss Deep Dish by Mary Kay 

Andrews. 7pm, SLCL-Weber Road Branch, 

4444 Weber Rd., 994-3300. 

Join the HQ Evening Book Discussion 

Group as they discuss The Commoner by 

John Burnham Schwartz. 7 pm, SLCL-Headquarters, 

1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 994- 

3300. 

Join the Sachs Evening Book Discussion. 

7pm, SLCL-Samuel C. Sachs Branch, 

16400 Burkhardt Pl., please call 994-3300 for 

the current book selection. 

St. Louis Writers Guild invites you to 

Wired Coffee Open Mic Night. 7pm, 

Wired Coffee, 3860 S. Lindbergh 

Blvd., please register in advance at: www.stlwritersguild.org. 


Join the Sachs Afternoon Book Discussion. 

2pm, SLCL-Samuel C. Sachs Branch, 

16400 Burkhardt Pl., please call 994-3300 for 


Join the Wednesday Afternoon book discussion 

group as they discuss Cutting for Stone 

by Abraham Verghese. 2pm, SLCL-Cliff Cave 

Branch, 5430 Telegraph Rd., 994-3300. 

Join the Urban Book Discussion Group for 

their discussion of Resurrection Midnight by 

Eric Jerome Dickey. 7pm, SLPL-Carpenter 

Branch, 3309 South Grand Blvd., 772-6586. 

The Buzz Westfall Favorite Author Series 

presents acclaimed historian T.J. Stiles, winner 

of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Biography, 

who will discuss his book The First Tycoon: 

The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. 7pm, 

SLCL-Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh 

Blvd., 994-3300. 

Join the Trail Blazers After Dark for their discussion 

of Tell No One by Harlan Coben. 7pm, 

SLCL-Jamestown Bluffs Branch, 4153 N. 

Hwy 67, 994-3300. 

Join the Wednesday Night book discussion 

group as they discuss The Great Gatsby by 

F. Scott Fitzgerald. 7pm, SLCL-Cliff Cave 

Branch, 5430 Telegraph Rd., 994-3300. 

Left Bank Books invites you as they host a 

book release party, reading and signing for 

Gyo Obata, author of Architect/Clients/Reflections. 

Obata is an internationally recognized 

architect and founding member of HOK, 

a St. Louis based global architecture firm. 7 

pm, 399 North Euclid, 367-6731. 

Join the Evening Book Discussion Group 

as they discuss, The Samurai’s Garden by 

Gail Tsukiyama. 7:30pm, SLCL-Oak Bend 

Branch, 842 S. Holmes Ave., 994-3300. 

The Florissant Valley Wednesday Evening 

Book Club invites you to their discussion of 

People of the Book: A Novel by Geraldine 

Brooks. 7:30pm, SLCL-Florissant Valley 

Branch, 195 New Florissant Rd. S., 994- 

3300. 


Join Book Journeys for their discussion of 

The River Wife: A Novel by Jonis Agee. 2pm, 

SLCL-Indian Trails Branch, 8400 Delport, 

994-3300. 

Washington University’s Assembly Series 

and the Skandalaris Center present Matthew 

Bishop, who will discuss concepts from 

his book Philanthrocapitalism: How the Rich 

Can Save the World. 6pm, Simon Hall, WU 

Danforth Campus, 935-4620 or visit http://assemblyseries.wustl.edu/. 

The St. Louis Writers Guild and Barnes & 

Noble invite you to a lecture, “How to Research 

Your Novel,” presented by SLWG Historian 

Brad Cook. 7pm, B&N-Ladue, 8871 

Ladue Rd., 862-6280. 

Washington University’s Master of Fine Arts 

program is hosting a craft lecture, led by Kate 

Bernheimer. 8pm, Duncker Hall 201, WU 

Danforth Campus, 935-5190. 


St. Louis County Library invites you to the 

2010 Family Read Night, where author Eoin 

Colfer will present a monologue, sign his 

book Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex, and 

conduct an interview with Artemis Fowl. 7pm, 


Blvd., 994-3300. 


Join the Mystery Lover’s Book Club for 

their discussion of Amagansett by Mark Mills. 

10am, SLPL-Carondelet Branch, 6800 Michigan 

Ave., 752-9224. 

Join the Saturday Reading Club Book Discussion 

Group. 12:30pm, SLPL-Julia Davis, 

4415 Natural Bridge Ave., please call 383- 

3021 for the current title under discussion. 

Join the Buder Branch Book Discussion 

Group for their discussion of Out Stealing 

Horses by Per Petterson. 1pm, SLPL-Buder 

Branch, 4401 Hampton Ave., 352-2900. 

Main Street Books invites you to a book signing 

and discussion with Nick Straatmann, author 

of Polishing the Diamond. 1pm, 307 S. 

Main St., St. Charles, 636-949-0105. 

Sunday, September 19 

Saint Louis Public Library and Left Bank 

Books present author William Gibson, who 

will discuss and sign his new book, Zero History. 

2pm, SLPL-Schlafly Branch, 225 North 

Euclid Ave., 367-4120. 

The St. Louis Poetry Center invites you to 

a Workshop/Critique with Jeff Friedman, the 

author of five collections of poetry, most recently 

Working in Flour (Carnegie Mellon UP, 

2011) and Black Threads (Carnegie Mellon 

UP, 2007). Poems must be presubmitted for 

the workshop. Call 973-0616 or see the website 

for details: www.stlouispoetrycenter.org. 


Come to the Thornbirds Book Discussion

st. louis literary calendar 

Group. 2pm, SLCL-Thornhill Branch, 12863 

Willowyck Dr., please call 994-3200 for the 

current book selection. 

Join the Manga Book Discussion as they 

discuss Batman, R.I.P. by Grant Morrison. 

6pm, SLPL-Julia Davis, 4415 Natural Bridge 

Ave., 383-3021. 

You are invited to join author Ellen Hopkins 

as she presents her newest novel, Fallout. 

7pm, SLCL-Headquarters, 1640 S. Lindbergh 

Blvd., 994-3300. 

Saint Louis Public Library and Left Bank 

Books present author Jonathan Franzen, 

who will discuss and sign his new novel, 

Freedom. 7 pm, SLPL-Schlafly Branch, 225 

North Euclid Ave., 367-4120. 

Main Street Books is hosting a discussion of 

the book Sarah’s Key by Tatiana DeRosnay. 

7pm, 307 S. Main St., St. Charles, 636-949- 

0105. 

River Styx kicks off its 36 th season by hosting 

readings by poets R. Dwayne Betts and 

Andrew Cox. 7:30pm, Duff’s Restaurant, 392 

North Euclid, 533-4541. Admission is $5 ($4 

for seniors, students, and members). 


Join the Machacek Book Discussion Group 

for their discussion of Catcher in the Rye by 

J.D. Salinger in celebration of Banned Book 

Week. 10am, SLPL-Machacek Branch, 6424 

Scanlan Ave., 781-2948. 

Join the Florissant Valley Tuesday Afternoon 

Book Club for their discussion of The 

Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. 

2pm, SLCL-Florissant Valley Branch, 195 

New Florissant Rd. S., 994-3300. 

Come to SLPL-Kingshighway Branch for a 

discussion of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. 

6:45pm, 2260 South Vandeventer Ave., 771- 

5450. 

Come to the Adult Book Club to discuss this 

month’s book. 7 pm, SLCL-Prairie Commons 

Branch, 915 Utz Ln., please call 994-3300 for 


Join Left Bank Books as they present Allen 

Kurzweil, author of Potato Chip Science, who 

will demonstrate some of his experiments. 

7pm, 399 North Euclid, 367-6731. 


Join The Bookies as they discuss The Last 

Lecture by Randy Pausch. 2pm, SLCL-Oak 

Bend Branch, 842 S. Holmes Ave., 994-3300. 

Join the Central Book Discussion Group 

as they discuss The Great Gatsby by F. Scott 

Fitzgerald in celebration of Banned Book 

Week. 4pm, SLPL-Schlafly Branch, 225 

North Euclid Ave., 367-4120. 

Left Bank Books presents author Karl Marlantes. 

His epic debut, Matterhorn: A Novel of 

the Vietnam War, spans many months in the 

lives of American troops in Vietnam. 7pm, 399 

North Euclid, 367-6731. 

Left Bank Books presents Terry McMillan, 

author of Getting to Happy. 7pm, Christ 

Church Cathedral, 1210 Locust St., please 

call 367-6731 for more information. You must 

purchase a copy of the book to receive tickets 

to the event. 


Come to SLPL-Schlafly Branch for their 

discussion of Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt 

Vonnegut. 7pm, 225 North Euclid Ave., 367- 

4120. 

Join the NB Ladies of the E*Stallions Book 

Club as they discuss popular and sometimes 

controversial books. 7pm, SLCL-Natural 


please call 994-3300 for this month’s book 

selection. 

Left Bank Books presents author David Herlihy, 

author of The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale 

of an American Adventurer and His Mysterious 

Disappearance. 7pm, 399 North Euclid, 

367-6731. 

SCC Open Mic Evening - St. Charles Community 

College invites writers and guests to 

share their poetry, short prose, or song lyrics. 

7pm, SCC Coffeehouse, Daniel J. Conoyer 

Social Sciences Auditorium, 4601 Mid Rivers 

Mall Blvd., 636-922-8569. 

Washington University’s Master of Fine Arts 

program is hosting a reading by Kate Bernheimer. 

8pm, Duncker Hall, 201, WU Danforth 

Campus. 


Come to SLPL-Walnut Park for a book discussion. 

12:30pm, 5760 West Florissant Ave., 

please call 383-1210 for the current selection. 

Come to the Cabanne Book Discussion 

Group to discuss the latest books you have 

been reading. 1pm, SLPL-Cabanne Branch, 

1106 Union Blvd., 367-0717. 

Main Street Books is hosting Esther Luttrell, 

author of Dear Dean...Love, Mom and 

Screenwriters Q & A, and Jo Hiestand, author 

of Siren Song, for a book signing and discussion. 

2pm, 307 S. Main St., St. Charles, 

636-949-0105. 

Saint Louis Public Library presents author 

Meg Selig, who will discuss and sign her book 

Changepower! 37 Secrets to Habit Change 

Success. 7pm, SLPL-Buder Branch, 4401 

Hampton Ave., 352-2900. 

Sunday, September 26 

Left Bank Books presents author Garnett 

Kilberg Cohen, author of How We Move the 

Air, which tells the story of musician Jake 

Doyle’s suicide. 4pm, 399 North Euclid, 367- 

6731. 


UMSL Center for Humanities invites you 

to “The Art of Scientific Illustration.” Yevonn 

Wilson-Ramsey, artist, scientific illustrator, 

and adjunct professor of art at St. Louis Community 

College, takes us behind the scenes 

in the world of scientific botanical illustration. 

12:15pm, 222 JC Penney Center, UM-St. 

Louis, 516-5699. 

Come to the Monday Book Discussion 

group. 1pm, SLCL-Weber Road Branch, 

4444 Weber Rd., please call 994-3300 for the 

current book selection. 

Join Lifescapes’s book discussion and writing 

group for seniors. 1:30pm, SLCL-Natural 


please call 994-3300 for this month’s selection. 

Join author Sara Pennypacker and illustrator 

Marla Frazee as they present the fourth book 

in their Clementine series, Clementine: Friend 

of the Week. 7pm, SLCL-Headquarters, 1640 

S. Lindbergh Blvd., 994-3300. 


Join the Grand Glaize Library book discussion 

group as they discuss My Antonia by Willa 

Cather. 2pm, SLCL-Grand Glaize Branch, 

1010 Meramec Station Rd., 994-3300. 

Come to the LC Book Club. 6pm, SLCL- 

Lewis and Clark Branch, 9909 Lewis-Clark 

Blvd., please call 994-3300 for the current 

book selection. 

Join the As the Page Turns book discussion 

group as they discuss The Story of Forgetting 

by Stefan Merill Block. 7pm, SLCL-Weber 

Road Branch, 4444 Weber Rd., 994-3300. 

Join the Bridgeton Trails book discussion 

group as they discuss Black Echo by Michael 

Connelly. 7pm, SLCL-Bridgeton Trails 

Branch, 3455 McKelvey Rd., 994-3300. 

Left Bank Books presents T.R. Reid, author 

of The Healing of America: A Global Quest for 

Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care. 

7pm, 399 North Euclid, 367-6731.

Financial assistance for this project has been provided 

by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency, and the 

Regional Arts Commission. 

Non-Profit Org. 

U.S. Postage 

PAID 

St. Louis, MO 

Permit No. 2535 

The Center for the Humanities 

Campus Box 1071 

Eliot Hall, Suit 300 

One Brookings Drive 

St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 

Phone: (314) 935-5576 

email: cenhum@artsci.wustl.edu 

http://cenhum.artsci.wustl.edu 

st. louis literary calendar continued 

Join the Tuesday Evening Book Club as 

they discuss Water for Elephants: A Novel by 

Sara Gruen. 7pm, SLCL-Thornhill Branch, 

12863 Willowyck Dr., 994-3300. 

Poetry at the Point, great local poets reading, 

as always. Focal Point, 2720 Sutton, 

doors open at 7pm, reading begins at 7:30pm. 

Check the website, www.stlouispoetrycenter. 

org 


Washington University’s Assembly Series, 

the University Libraries, the Campus Bookstore 

and Mortar Board student honorary 

present a reading and commentary by author 

Jonathan Safran-Foer. His most recent work 

is a nonfiction book entitled Eating Animals 

regarding his personal journey toward vegetarianism. 

7pm, Steinberg Hall, WU Danforth 

Campus, 935-4620 or visit http://assemblyseries.wustl.edu/. 

Join author Cinda Williams Chima as she 

discusses her book The Exiled Queen. 7pm, 


Blvd., 994-3300. 

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by joining 

a discussion on Delirio by Columbian author 

Laura Restrepo. 7pm, SLCL-Bridgeton 

Trails Branch, 3455 McKelvey Rd., please 

call 994-3300 to register. 

Left Bank Books presents author Joelle 

Charbonneau, author of Skating Around the 

Law: A Mystery. 7pm, LBB-Downtown, 321 

North 10 th St., 436-3049. 

Upcoming Events 

and Notices 

The Missouri Society of Children’s Book 

Writers and Illustrators meets every month 

in three locations. The St. Charles group meets 

the first Wednesday of each month at 7pm at 

the Mid Rives Barnes & Noble. For more information, 

contact Stephanie Bearce at smbearce@charter.net. 

The Florissant group 

meets the second Thursday of each month 

at 7pm at Florissant Presbyterian Church. 

For more information, contact Sue Bradford 

Edwards, suebradfordedwards@yahoo.com. 

The St. Louis City group meets the 3rd Sunday 

of the month at SLPL-Buder Branch at 

2:30pm. For contact information, email Jessica 

Saigh, jessicasaigh@swbell.net. 

Call for Submissions: The Lindenwood Review, 

the literary journal of Lindenwood University 

in St. Charles, MO, is currently accepting 

submissions of fiction, poetry, and 

personal essays for Issue 1, to be published 

in Spring 2011. Submission deadline is Dec. 

15, 2010. Guidelines are available at http:// 

TheLindenwoodReview.blogspot.com. 

Abbreviations 

STL: Saint Louis; B&N: Barnes & Noble; 

KPL: Kirkwood Public Library; LBB: Left Bank 

Books; SLCL: St. Louis County Library; SLPL: 

St. Louis Public Library; SCCCL: St. Charles 

City County Library; UCPL: University City 

Public Library, WU: Washington University, 

WGPL: Webster Groves Public Library. 

Check the online calendar at cenhum.artsci. 

wustl.edu for more events and additional details. 

To advertise, send event details to litcal@artsci.wustl.edu, 

fax 935-4889, or call 

935-5576.

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