Library U Returns with a Fall Line-up of Interesting Humanities Topics Beginning this coming Sunday September 28th!

Library U’s Fall Humanities Speaker Series, co-sponsored with the Bainbridge Public Library, the Bainbridge Book Festival, and Humanities Washington, begins September 28 in the Bainbridge Public Library community meeting room. All programs take place in the library and start at 2 p.m., except for the October 11 program, which is part of the Bainbridge Book Festival. All of the programs are free.

Questions? Email: BainbridgeLibraryU@gmail.com. More information is also on the Bainbridge Public Library website.

Here’ S This Season’s Lineup:

September 28 @ 2 p.m. The Fate of the Free Press and Democracy in America. Brier Dudley, editor of The Seattle Times Save the Free Press public service initiative, will discuss the state of America’s independent, local press system and what’s being done in 2025 to address its decline.

October 11. Time TBA. A History of Movie Adaptations in 10 Films. At the Bainbridge Book Festival. Join Seattle International Film Festival Programmer Dan Doody, who has also worked as a bookseller, as he looks at ten popular films adapted from novels, discusses how faithful they remained to their literary origins, and why in each case it does (or doesn’t) matter. We’ll also ask the question: how is the possibility of a film or TV adaptation of their books influencing writers today?

November 9 @ 2 p.m. Boston’s War: The Tea Party to Bunker Hill. Presented by retired diplomat and military historian Larry Kerr. When the American Revolution finally came, it arrived first in Boston. We will learn about Boston’s role as the center of American political, economic, and military resistance and the city’s pre-war military preparations and intelligence organization. We’ll also look at the first days of fighting, including Lexington Green, Concord Bridge, Bunker Hill, and the British withdrawal from Boston.

November 23 @ 2 p.m. The Blacklist Era and Hollywood. A Humanities Washington presentation by film critic and historian Robert Horton. “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” The answer to this question—or the refusal to answer it—cast hundreds of lives into turmoil at the dawn of the Cold War. The Red Scare that erupted in the 1940s allowed the House Committee on Un-American Activities to grab headlines by parading prominent Hollywood figures before the cameras.

This presentation, illustrated with film clips, tells the stories from this heartbreaking and scandalous era, and how notables such as Humphrey Bogart, Elia Kazan, and Charlie Chaplin were swept up in the frenzy. We’ll also ask a question: with today’s politics at a boiling point, are we living in such a period again?

Library U is sponsored by the Bainbridge Public Library with support from the Bainbridge Island Friends of the Library, a generous donation in memory of Louise Brody Weissman, a grant from the Bainbridge Community Foundation, and support from Humanities Washington, a statewide nonprofit whose mission is to open minds and bridges that divide us by creating spaces to explore different perspectives.

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