Open Book/ Open Mind: Dan Barry and Matt Purdy in Conversation “THIS LAND”

Date: Sun, 10/20/2019 
Time: 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Location: Main Library – Auditorium
Categories: Adult Events

Dan Barry, a New York Times columnist, will be in conversation about his book THIS LAND: America, Lost and Found, with his Times colleague Matthew Purdy, Deputy Managing Editor. The book is a landmark collection, selected from a decade of his distinctive “This Land” columns and presenting a powerful but rarely seen portrait of America.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and on the eve of a national recession, New York Times writer Dan Barry launched a column about America: not the one populated only by cable-news pundits, but the America defined and redefined by those who clean the hotel rooms, tend the beet fields, endure disasters both natural and manmade. As the name of the president changed from Bush to Obama to Trump, Barry was crisscrossing the country, filing deeply moving stories from the tiniest dot on the American map to the city that calls itself the Capital of the World.
Complemented by the select images of award-winning Times photographers, these narrative and visual snapshots of American life create a majestic tapestry of our shared experience, capturing how our nation is at once flawed and exceptional, paralyzed and ascendant, as cruel and violent as it can be gentle and benevolent.

“Story to story, this collection of reportage from Dan Barry for The New York Times might appear to be what it is – old journalism. And yet, what is actually here, a decade of stories about crumbling traditions, breaks in trust and flickers of grace, is the most comprehensive single-book portrait of the United States (circa 2007-2016) in a long time. The accumulated power of these pieces – angry, corny, inspiring, mournful and insane – takes on the shape of a salute to durable, keenly observed newspaper writing.”—The Chicago Tribune, 10 Best Books of 2018

The event is free thanks to grants from our Series Sponsors, Investors Bank and The Montclair Foundation. Please register HERE to reserve a seat.  Watchung Booksellers will have copies of the book for sale and signing at the end of the event.