Library Nights
October 5 & 6
Monday, October 5 | 7 p.m.
Explore the history of the Appalachian Trail from the ground–and boots– up in A Hiker’s History of the Appalachian Trail by Mills Kelly. Kelly explores the last 100 years on the trail using the hiker’s own words, sourced from shelter logbooks, personal accounts, to magazine and newspaper articles from casual hikers. The book also includes photography that showcases the hikers and the trail in color and black & white. Sponsored by the Friends of Richard Byrd Library.
Location: Richard Byrd Library, 7250 Commerce St, Springfield
Tuesday, October 6 | 7 p.m.
In Creating an Informed Citizenry: Knowledge and Democracy in the Early American Republic, George Oberle asks: who validates the information that dictates citizens’ political opinions? Oberle, the History Librarian and an Associate Professor at George Mason University, examines how knowledge was created and circulated in early America, ultimately leading to the formation of the Smithsonian Institution. In an age of polarizing political standpoints, Oberle offers insight into the nature of education in the United States. Author Lindsay Shakenbach Regele says, “Creating an Informed Citizenry is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what the founding generation and their successors thought and did about creating and sharing new knowledge and how we are living with their conceptions still.” Sponsored by Friends of Pohick Regional Library.
Location: Pohick Regional Library, 6450 Sydenstricker Road, Burke, VA
Author and former US Army intelligence officer Nina Willner’s latest triumph hits close to home with The Boys in the Light: An Extraordinary World War II Story of Survival, Faith, and Brotherhood. She tells two intertwined stories: her father, Eddie Willner’s, experience as a Jewish teenager forced into concentration camps, and the company of young American tankers who rescue him. Author Mitchell Zuckoff says, “In this beautifully braided story of heroic World War II tank crews and two remarkable Holocaust survivors, Nina Willner reveals the best and worst of humanity – and the best triumphs.” Sponsored by Friends of the Burke Centre Library.
Location: Burke Centre Library, 5935 Freds Oak Rd, Burke
Something’s amiss in picture perfect Eastbrook, Bethesda. In The Neighbors Are Watching, author Aggie Blum Thompson unravels the sinister secrets of suburbia. When fifty-year-old Caren blacks out after a party, she suspects someone has drugged her drink, and whoever did it may know something about the unsolved murder from the year before. She teams up with a new neighbor to reveal the cracks in the façade of their perfect neighborhood, and find themselves targeted by a killer. Author K.T. Nguyen says, “With rich parents behaving badly, kids gone wild, and a deadly cover-up, The Neighbors Are Watching is a meticulously plotted, one-sitting binge read. Nobody scratches the veneer off suburban respectability like Thompson. You won’t look at your neighbors the same way again.” Sponsored by Friends of Kings Park Library.
Location: Kings Park Library, 9000 Burke Lake Rd, Burke