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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260407T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260407T190000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260206T192701Z
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SUMMARY:Rhae Lynn Barnes for Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment
DESCRIPTION:A groundbreaking history\, decades in the making\, that chronicles how blackface dominated American society culturally\, financially\, and racially for nearly two centuries.\nNever before has the disturbing story of blackface and its piercing reflection of American society been so comprehensively told. With Darkology\, Princeton historian Rhae Lynn Barnes meticulously unravels the complex\, subterranean\, and all-too-often expunged history of “Darkology”—the insidious study\, commodification\, and dehumanization of Black life\, through which performers caricatured the enslaved and formerly enslaved for their supposed subservience and happy demeanor. \nGiven the extraordinary research reflected in Darkology\, it’s not surprising that Barnes spent twenty years tracking down “fading photographs\, old movies\, bureaucratic detritus\, moldy scripts\, and living witnesses\, assembling an impressive archive that allowed her to demonstrate the astonishingly broad reach of blackface minstrelsy” (Laurel Thatcher Ulrich). Painstakingly piecing together these scattered shards of evidence\, Barnes reveals the shocking extent to which blackface took center stage in every era of American history. \nThis was not a fringe activity. By 1830\, as political resistance to slavery grew\, blackface exploded from a niche performance into a venomous national export. Within a decade\, hardly a theater in the country didn’t put on minstrel shows. Following the Civil War\, this grotesque entertainment soared\, seeping from professional theaters into everyday amateur shows\, print\, and advertisements. It was everywhere: Elks Clubs\, religious institutions\, battlefields\, universities\, and schools. It wasn’t just in the Jim Crow era; it defined it. The very name “Jim Crow” derives from minstrelsy’s founding character. \nDarkology dismantles the myth that blackface was a fleeting\, post–Civil War phenomenon. Even in eras known for liberal progressivism\, it flourished. Barnes unearths the startling fact that four-term president Franklin D. Roosevelt was a devotee who died hours before a blackface show he had commissioned at Warm Springs. It permeated U.S. military bases and was even used in World War II Japanese American concentration camps and German POW camps as a bizarre tool of “Americanization.” \nAfter WWII\, the tide began to turn as Black veterans and mothers in places like suburban California protested the practice in schools. Still\, blackface performances proved resilient\, surfacing as late as 1969 at the University of Vermont. Even as the Civil Rights movement fought for equality\, blackface remained present in American politics and white supremacist organizing through the Nixon and Ford administrations\, its legacy still percolating in variable forms today. \nBy tracing minstrelsy’s evolution through oral histories\, material culture\, and a wide range of multimedia sources\, Barnes’s “masterpiece” (David Blight) forces us to reckon with the myriad ways the American Dream wore blackface. Recasting this American story with “vivid and engaging storytelling” (Howard French)\, Darkology is a landmark work that peers beneath the boulders deliberately obscuring our past—illuminating a path toward a more just and equal society in America’s future.\n\nDr. Rhae Lynn Barnes is an award-winning historian and Assistant Professor of American Cultural History at Princeton University. Her highly anticipated new book\, Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment (Liveright/W.W. Norton)\, offers a searing and definitive examination of how racism is woven into the very fabric of American political life. Hailed for its narrative power and rigorous research\, Darkology was named a “masterpiece” by Pulitzer Prize winner David Blight and earned a Kirkus Star for its exceptional literary merit. A leading expert on the globalization of American popular culture\, Dr. Barnes explores the intersections of music\, film\, and material culture. She previously served as the senior advisor and on-screen talent for the PBS documentary series Reconstruction: America After the Civil War with Henry Louis Gates Jr.\, and is the founder of the digital education platform U.S. History Scene\, which serves 20\,000 public schools nationwide. \nRebecca Brenner Graham is a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University and the author of Dear Miss Perkins: A Story of Frances Perkins’s Efforts to Aid Refugees from Nazi Germany. Her work has been supported by a Cokie Roberts Fellowship from the National Archives Foundation\, a Rubenstein Center Research Fellowship from the White House Historical Association\, and most recently\, a Yearlong Hybrid Fellowship from the International Center for Jefferson Studies for her current project on the American Revolution in female millennial popular culture. Her writing has been published in The Washington Post\, Smithsonian Magazine\, Politico Magazine\, Slate\, and Ms. \nIf you’d like to purchase this title online and still support People’s Book\, follow the link below: \nhttps://bookshop.org/a/98269/9781631496349 \nThis is an in-person event. Seated capacity at People’s Book is 50 patrons. Standing room is an option. All events are first-come\, first-served seating. Accessible seating is always available.
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/darkology/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260408T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260408T190000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260211T175517Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T175517Z
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SUMMARY:Linda Pentz Gunter for No to Nuclear
DESCRIPTION:Debunks the enduring myth that nuclear power is safe and green\n\n\n\nThere is no silver bullet for the climate crisis—but that hasn’t stopped people searching. Seizing its chance\, the nuclear power industry wants us to believe that theirs is the only technical fix for our deliverance. The public\, politicians and the media have been easily swayed. \nThis should come as no surprise. After all\, the pro-nuclear PR campaign is richly funded and has an army of lobbyists sowing myths while the industry reaps the rewards of taxpayer-funded subsidies. \nNo To Nuclear calls the industry’s bluff. Blasting aside its claims to be safe and green\, Linda Pentz Gunter makes the irresistible case that nuclear power is too slow\, too expensive\, too dangerous and too integrally connected to the nuclear weapons complex\, to serve as a rational energy choice. \nThe book also delves into the lives of Indigenous peoples and communities of colour\, who have been harmed the most by the nuclear sector\, and questions whether the way we devalue nature and the environment is costing us the chance of a genuinely just energy transition. \n\n\nLinda Pentz Gunter is the founder of the US-based non-profit Beyond Nuclear and serves as its international specialist. Previously\, she was a journalist at USA Network\, Reuters\, and The Times. She launched\, and writes for Beyond Nuclear’s online magazine\, Beyond Nuclear International.\n \n\nAuthor and activist Bob Musil is President and CEO of the Rachel Carson Council and Chairman of the Board of Beyond Nuclear. A respected advocate on Capitol Hill\, Musil has also been a leader in campaigns against nuclear weapons – their production\, testing and proliferation — as well as nuclear power and nuclear waste. Musil has also been an award-winning radio producer of documentary series like Shadows of the Nuclear Age: American Culture and the Bomb. He is Treasurer and Past President of the Council for a Livable World\, the former head of the SANE Education Fund\, the Professionals Coalition for Nuclear Arms Control\, and the longest-serving CEO of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Physicians for Social Responsibility.\n\nIf you’d like to purchase this title online and still support People’s Book\, follow the link below:\nhttps://bookshop.org/a/98269/9780745352107\n\nThis is an in-person event. Seated capacity at People’s Book is 50 patrons. Standing room is an option. All events are first-come\, first-served seating. Accessible seating is always available.
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/no-nuclear/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260410T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260410T193000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260115T181340Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260405T173212Z
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SUMMARY:CANCELLED: Deborah Zalesne for Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement
DESCRIPTION:Due to unforeseen circumstances\, this event has been cancelled.\n  \nA devastating case against the inhumane practice of solitary confinement. \nThe injustice and cruelty of the US carceral system find their barbaric apogee in the practice of solitary confinement. Once deemed a form of torture by the US Supreme Court\, “the hole” is still wrongly used as a solution to prison overcrowding and violence. But locking someone in a cell the size of a parking space for months or years causes profound psychological harm. For Christopher Blackwell\, it was a harrowing ordeal that changed his life forever. Ending Isolation weaves Chris’s vivid account with other stories from solitary confinement\, alongside insights from legal and medical experts. Through these narratives and undeniable research\, the book makes a powerful case for abolishing this cruel and unusual punishment. \nDeborah Zalesne is a tenured professor of law at the City University of New York School of Law. She has published extensively in the areas of criminal justice\, race and gender justice\, legal pedagogy\, and issues relating to the use of contracts to empower disenfranchised communities. She has authored or co-authored three books and more than fifty scholarly articles\, published in journals such as the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism\, the Columbia Journal of Race and the Law\, and the Harvard Women’s Law Review. Her work has been cited as legal authority hundreds of times in law journals\, books\, and state and federal court opinions. \nDeborah’s current scholarship focuses on the harms of solitary confinement. In 2025\, she co-wrote Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement with incarcerated journalist Christopher Blackwell (Pluto Press). She is currently co-writing a book called “Finding Oneself in Solitary\,” that provides mindfulness training and practices for people in solitary confinement\, and co-editing a book entitled “Dear Teenage Me: Voices from Beyond the Barbed Wire\,” that includes essays by incarcerated people in the form of letters to their younger selves. Deborah co-founded and runs a Writers Development Program that pairs aspiring incarcerated writers with inside and outside volunteer mentors who support their writing and help pitch it to media outlets. \nChristopher William Blackwell is an award-winning journalist currently serving a 45-year prison sentence in Washington State for taking a human life during a drug robbery. He has been incarcerated since 2003 and was incarcerated for the first time at the age of 12. While incarcerated\, Chris earned a college degree in political and social sciences\, created multiple mentor programs\, and became a facilitator for restorative justice circles. He is the co-founder and Executive Director of Look2Justice\, a grassroots organization of system-impacted organizers and researchers who work to cultivate justice\, fairness\, and accountability in Washington State’s criminal legal system. With co-author Deborah Zalesne\, he founded and runs a Writers Development Program that uplifts the voices of incarcerated writers in the mainstream media. \nChris co-wrote Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement\, published with Pluto Press in 2025. He has published well over 100 essays and articles in outlets such as the New York Times\, the Washington Post\, and the Boston Globe\, including many articles about the harms of solitary confinement. He is a contributing writer with Jewish Currents and a contributing editor with The Appeal\, where he writes a monthly newsletter. He was awarded the Galaxy Leader Fellowship in 2024 with his wife\, Dr. Chelsea Moore\, he was the Grand Prize winner of Narratively’s prestigious 2023 Memoir Contest\, and he was awarded the 2024 Incarcerated Journalist of the Year award by Prison Journalism Project through their Stillwater Awards. \nIf you’d like to purchase this title online and still support People’s Book\, follow the link below: \nhttps://bookshop.org/a/98269/9780745351278 \nThis is an in-person event. Seated capacity at People’s Book is 50 patrons. Standing room is an option. All events are first-come\, first-served seating. Accessible seating is always available.
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/ending-isolation/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events
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ORGANIZER;CN="People's Book":MAILTO:info@peoplesbooktakoma.com
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260411T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260411T160000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260326T152802Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260410T203041Z
UID:10004932-1775919600-1775923200@peoplesbooktakoma.com
SUMMARY:Paul Prescod and Dustin Guastella for Rustin's Challenge
DESCRIPTION:There was no more trenchant and substantive critic of the Left from the Left in the 1960s and 1970s than Bayard Rustin. Some liberals and leftists today valorize Rustin on the basis of his multiple oppressed identities and civil rights organizing. On the other hand\, many others dismiss him for being compromised by his commitment to the Democratic Party or by his deep suspicion of the new forms of left activism that appeared in the mid-1960s. \nWhile Rustin certainly made some strategic mis-steps later in life\, his challenges to the New Left\, Black Power\, and a regressing liberal establishment from 1964 until his passing in 1987 were insightful\, cutting\, and often quite prescient. At a time when the Left is in dire need of self-reflection and reorientation\, Rustin’s work has gained a new relevance and urgency. \nThis new collection of Rustin’s writings from this period features articles and speeches that represent Rustin’s Challenge to the Left of his day. Some of the pieces of Rustin’s writing chosen for inclusion have been published before\, but only in pamphlets or newspapers from many decades ago. Some will be published for the first time here. Damage Magazine is excited to bring Rustin’s views forth for a new generation\, in the hopes that they will spark a wide-ranging reconsideration of left politics. \nPaul Prescod is a labor organizer and a Jacobin Magazine contributing editor. Formerly he was a Philadelphia public school teacher and organizer with Teamsters for a Democratic Union.  \nDustin Guastella is director of operations for Teamsters Local 623 in Philadelphia and a research associate at the Center for Working-Class Politics. \nCLICK TO RSVP. 
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/rustins-challenge/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events
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ORGANIZER;CN="People's Book":MAILTO:info@peoplesbooktakoma.com
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260414T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260414T190000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260306T191922Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260410T203450Z
UID:10004686-1776189600-1776193200@peoplesbooktakoma.com
SUMMARY:Martin Dickinson for I am That Road
DESCRIPTION:Dickinson’s road is an assembly of lines\, of geometries and definitive materials in search of eternity\, built to withstand time — prefabricated lines stretched across the plane\, awaiting a wanderer. The immigrant walks among the verses and scrap metal. At this point\, language intersects\, and Dickinson’s Spanish opens a slit for introspection — for circular memories like slices of lemon\, and divine journeys that end in floral flames. The relentless path remains; the lines lead forward\, but also upward — a poetic pilgrimage that drags the asphalt and fuses it with a jacaranda tree in a bilingual space. \n—Daniela Hernádez Rodríguez\, Johns Hopkins Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. \nMartin Dickinson is the author of four poetry collections: I Am That Road (Beltway Editions\, 2025)\, Life List Notes (Sligo Creek\, 2021)\, together with his wife\, poet Nancy Allinson\, What a Windstorm Teaches (Sligo Creek\, 2019) and My Concept of Time (Finishing Line\, 2014). He was poet of the month for May 2015 for the online journal Blue Heron Review. Dickinson’s poems have appeared in Beltway Poetry Quarterly\, California Quarterly\, Innisfree Poetry Quarterly\, Nth Position and the Russian language weekly Kontinent (in translation) and several other print and online journals. He and Nancy live in Silver Spring\, Maryland. \nCLICK TO RSVP
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/that-road/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Martin-Dickinson.png
ORGANIZER;CN="People's Book":MAILTO:info@peoplesbooktakoma.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260418T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260418T140000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260306T193253Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260410T204928Z
UID:10004687-1776517200-1776520800@peoplesbooktakoma.com
SUMMARY:Jade Floyd for The Leadership Labyrinth
DESCRIPTION:The Leadership Labyrinth is not a roadmap to the corner office—it’s a compass for women navigating the winding journey of leadership. This journey is not a neat ladder of promotions and accolades\, but rather a labyrinth of bold choices\, resilience\, and reinvention. \nThrough powerful storytelling and practical exercises\, Jade offers more than reflection. She equips women with tools to pause\, recenter\, and move forward with intention. Her signature “Endeavors” illuminate the challenges women in the C-suite from global brands like Rare Beauty\, JP Morgan Chase\, and ESPN\, have faced\, including the weight of being “the only” in the room\, the tension of balancing ambition with family\, and the sting of being underestimated. \nWhether you are building a career\, navigating a pivot\, raising a family\, or finding your place in spaces not built for you\, this book affirms that you deserve a seat at the table. Your path\, however winding\, is not a detour. It is the way. \nThe Leadership Labyrinth is a companion for every season of leadership: climbing\, resting\, rebuilding\, or rising again. It is both permission and provocation to lead with a full heart\, to reimagine the rooms we enter\, and to leave a legacy not just in titles\, but in the lives we influence and touch. \nJade Floyd has elevated women in leadership across Fortune 500 brands\, investment firms\, professional sports teams\, and global philanthropies. As Executive Vice President of Communications & Public Affairs at Global Strategy Group\, she has secured hundreds of media stories for women in the C-suite in outlets like The New York Times\, Fortune\, Bloomberg\, The Wall Street Journal\, Fast Company\, Forbes\, Tech Crunch\, CNBC\, and more. She has placed her clients on global stages at gatherings like Fortune Most Powerful Women\, the Forbes Women’s Summit\, Wall Street Journal Future of Everything\, and more. \nJade is a frequent speaker on national stages and an adjunct professor at George Washington University where she teaches the next generation how to lead with intention and purpose. She has served on the board and as an advisor to nearly a dozen organizations and startups across the country. Jade is a recipient of the PR News People of the Year\, the Washington Business Journal‘s “40 Under 40\,” and Huffington Post‘s IGNITEGood Millennial Impact Challenge Award. \nShe resides in Maryland with her husband\, Charles\, and daughters Jasper and Georgina. The Leadership Labyrinth is her first book. \nRSVP HERE. 
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/leadership-labyrinth/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events
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ORGANIZER;CN="People's Book":MAILTO:info@peoplesbooktakoma.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260419T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260419T100000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260211T194517Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260211T194517Z
UID:10004662-1776591000-1776592800@peoplesbooktakoma.com
SUMMARY:Storytime: Ashley Belote for Little Red and Big\, Bad Fred
DESCRIPTION:Little Red Riding Hood like you’ve never seen before! This fractured fairy-tale will have kids in stitches as Little Red optimistically befriends Fred (who may or may not try to EAT Little Red)\, reminding readers to always see the best in others\, even when they have sharp teeth and are definitely the big\, bad wolf. \nOnce upon a time. . . . Little Red loves to visit his great-grandfather. He makes the trip through the woods any time of year! The best part is when Little Red meets Fred along the way. Fred is the bestest\, fluffiest\,  most amazing KITTY in the whole wide world (nevermind that Little Red is completely oblivious to the fact that Fred is\, in fact\, a very hungry wolf that is trying to EAT HIM). When Fred gets hurt (from a trap HE set for Little Red)\, Little Red takes his injured friend to Great Grandfather’s house. That’s when Great Grandfather tells Little Red that Fred is actually … a DOG?! EVEN BETTER. (Poor Fred.) \nLittle Red’s positive outlook is contagious in this picture book about an unlikely friendship\, the power of kindness\, and keeping an open heart from the creator of Witch & Wombat and Sheepwrecked.\n\nAshley Belote is the author/illustrator of LITTLE RED AND BIG\, BAD FRED (PRH 2025)\, WITCH & WOMBAT (PRH 2023)\, SHEEPWRECKED (PRH 2024)\, DON’T WASH WINSTON (Feiwel & Friends 2024)\, LISTEN UP\, LOUELLA\, THE ME TREE\, and A PARTRIDGE IN THE WE TREE. She is also the illustrator of FRANKENSLIME and VALENSLIME by Joy Keller (Feiwel & Friends\, 2021). Her debut graphic novel\, Squirrel Lock Holmes: The Pet Rock Mystery\, will be released by Random House in March of 2026!\n\nAshley studied traditional animation under the direction of Don Bluth. She is a West Virginia native and earned her BA from Alderson Broaddus University. She earned her MA in Arts Administration from the University of Kentucky. Her graduate study included a children’s literature and illustration course\, The Whole Book Approach\, through Simmons College at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. She also serves as the Illustrator Coordinator for the Carolinas chapter of SCBWI. Ashley is represented by Moe Ferrara of Triada US Literary Agency. To learn more and see her work\, please visit AshleyBelote.com.\n\nIf you’d like to purchase this title online and still support People’s Book\, follow the link below:\nhttps://bookshop.org/a/98269/9780593902431\n\nThis is an in-person event. Seated capacity at People’s Book is 50 patrons. Standing room is an option. All events are first-come\, first-served seating. Accessible seating is always available.
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/red-and-fred-storytime/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events,Children's Events
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ORGANIZER;CN="People's Book":MAILTO:info@peoplesbooktakoma.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T180000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260306T205559Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260410T204613Z
UID:10004688-1776790800-1776794400@peoplesbooktakoma.com
SUMMARY:Children's Acoustic Concert & Storytime: Grace Semler Baldridge for The Love That Made You
DESCRIPTION:Parents and kids of all ages are invited to join singer-songwriter Grace Semler Baldridge as they celebrate the publication of their picture book The Love That Made You. Grace will read the book and play an acoustic set of child-friendly songs from and beyond their albums.\n\nThe Love That Made You is a nondenominational book introducing the concept of a divine presence that will appeal to spiritual parents and families\, the exvangelical and queer communities\, and fans of Grace Semler Baldridge.\n\n\n\n“Though I don’t have each answer\, I hope that you know\, there’s meaning to find wherever you go.” \nThe Love That Made You is a wonder-filled\, empowering picture book introducing children to the idea of a higher power called Love that connects us and carries us through life. \nWith gentle\, rhyming text\, The Love That Made You helps grown-ups find the words to share the comfort\, encouragement\, and wonder of God or the Universe with a young heart\, without suggesting that the grown-up knows all the answers. Grace Semler Baldridge\, an alt-Christian singer-songwriter\, brings their characteristic thoughtfulness into this poetic invitation to think broadly about love as a force that connects all of us\, and plants the seeds for a child building their own concept of the divine. Award-winning illustrator Fran Alvarez weaves a compelling visual story of a young child and their family on a camping trip\, interacting with fellow hikers and enjoying the wonders of nature while contemplating the big questions children are wont to ask. \nPerfect for fans of Matthew Paul Turner’s When God Made You\, Savannah Guthrie’s Mostly What God Does Is Love You\, and Jennifer Grant’s Maybe God Is Like That Too. \nGrace Semler Baldridge is an LA-based musician known as Semler who made history as the first openly queer artist to hit Number 1 on the Christian music charts with the release of their EP\, Preacher’s Kid. Following this success\, Semler released another chart-topping EP and toured the country with Relient K. They have amassed more than 238\,000 followers on TikTok\, and Semler’s music has been featured on NPR and Apple Radio\, as well as in the Washington Post and Rolling Stone. After three headline tours and two more EPs\, Semler released their debut album\, Revival in My Mind\, in February 2025. When they’re not on the road or in the studio\, they love to read with their daughter Frances and their wife Elizabeth. \nRSVP HERE
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/love-made-you/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events,Children's Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Grace-Semler-Baldridge.png
ORGANIZER;CN="People's Book":MAILTO:info@peoplesbooktakoma.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260422T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260422T193000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260326T135903Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260410T205412Z
UID:10004927-1776882600-1776886200@peoplesbooktakoma.com
SUMMARY:Nicholas Enrich for Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID
DESCRIPTION:A civil servant discovers his breaking point when the Trump administration’s cruelty and indifference threaten to violate the oath he swore to uphold. \nNicholas Enrich had finally achieved his lifelong dream: becoming USAID’s lead official for global health. But that dream turned out to be a nightmare in the tumultuous time after President Trump’s second inauguration. \nIn the months that followed\, USAID became the first target of Elon Musk’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The mission to which Enrich had dedicated his career was being dismantled before his eyes—even the name of the agency was removed from the building’s facade. Enrich witnessed firsthand the Trump administration’s lies\, how it systematically prevented USAID from providing lifesaving foreign aid\, and the death and suffering around the world that resulted from careless decisions. Finally determining he could no longer keep quiet\, and risking the career that he loved deeply\, Enrich released a set of whistleblowing memos exposing the administration’s illegal and destructive actions. \nEnrich was put on administrative leave\, yet his memos went viral and had a sustained impact. In the days following their release\, hundreds of canceled aid projects were revived\, and the documents were cited in a Supreme Court case on the legality of USAID’s dissolution. While his memos were too late to save USAID\, Enrich was one of the first government officials to publicly blow the whistle on DOGE’s reckless destruction\, sounding an early alarm bell for other federal agencies that would soon find themselves in the crosshairs. \nUrgent and profoundly human\, Enrich’s story offers an astonishing behind-the-scenes look at a federal agency under siege\, from the early days when Enrich and his team were unaware of what was to come to the shockingly ignorant\, callous\, and bigoted conversations they witnessed. Enrich reveals in this detailed\, no-holds-barred account what was truly at stake when DOGE set out to dismantle one of America’s most effective humanitarian institutions\, and how millions of lives hung in the balance. \nNicholas Enrich is a former civil servant who worked at USAID under four administrations. He served as the Bureau of Global Health’s director of policy\, programs\, and planning until January 2025\, when he was designated as USAID’s acting assistant administrator for global health. On March 2\, 2025\, he was placed on administrative leave for exposing the Trump administration’s illegitimate and dangerous dismantling of USAID. \nRSVP HERE. 
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/wood-chipper/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Nick-Enrich.png
ORGANIZER;CN="People's Book":MAILTO:info@peoplesbooktakoma.com
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260423T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260423T193000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260211T195617Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260410T205735Z
UID:10004663-1776969000-1776972600@peoplesbooktakoma.com
SUMMARY:Lori Rader-Day for Wreck Your Heart
DESCRIPTION:From award-winning author Lori Rader-Day\, Wreck Your Heart is an engaging crime novel\, about a country and midwestern singer out to catch her big break before family—or murder—wrecks everything. \n\n\nDahlia “Doll” Devine had the kind of hardscrabble beginning that could launch a thousand broken-hearted country songs. Now she’s the star of her own stage at McPhee’s Tavern. As part of Chicago’s—yes Chicago’s—country music scene\, Dahlia is an up-and-coming singer in spangles and boots of classic country tunes. That is\, until her boyfriend up and went\, taking the rent money with him. \nDahlia is back to square one\, relying on Alex McPhee—again. Alex helped her out of a bad situation when she was a kid living rough with her mother. Now he’s part landlord\, part band booster\, all-around rescuer. Dahlia just wishes she didn’t keep giving him reasons to have to do it. \nJust as Dahlia suspects she’s scraped rock bottom\, the mother she hasn’t spoken to in twenty years shows up. The next morning\, a distraught young woman arrives at the bar\, asking after her missing mother—Dahlia’s mother\, too\, even if the missing suburban mom the girl describes sounds different from the one who let Dahlia down all those years ago. \nThough no one is using the word sister anytime soon\, Dahlia is drawn into reuniting the family that might’ve been hers. But when a body is discovered outside McPhee’s Tavern\, the crime threatens not just the place Dahlia has made into a home\, but everything she’s believed about her past\, her dreams for the future\, and the people she was\, maybe\, beginning to let into her heart. \n\n\nLori Rader-Day is the author of eight novels including Wreck Your Heart\, The Death of Us\, Death at Greenway\, The Lucky One\, and Under a Dark Sky. She has been nominated for crime fiction’s highest award\, the Edgar Award\, and has won the Mary Higgins Clark Award\, the Agatha Award\, three Anthony Awards\, and an Indiana Author Award. She has also been nominated for Thriller\, Barry\, and Macavity awards. Lori is a former national president of Sisters in Crime and a former national board member of Mystery Writers of America. She lives in Chicago\, where she co-chairs the crime fiction readers’ event Midwest Mystery Conference and teaches creative writing at Northwestern University. Visit her at www.LoriRaderDay.com.\n\nCatriona McPherson (she/her) was born in Scotland and immigrated to the US in 2010. A former linguistics professor\, she is now a full-time fiction writer and has published: preposterous 1930s private- detective stories; realistic 1940s amateur-sleuth stories; and contemporary psychothriller standalones. These are all set in Scotland with a lot of Scottish weather. She also writes modern comic crime capers about a Scot-out-of-water in a “fictional” college town in Northern California. Her novels have won Agathas\, Anthonys\, Leftys and Macavitys and been finalists for an Edgar\, a CWA Dagger and three Mary Higgins Clark awards. Catriona is a proud lifetime member and former national president of Sisters in Crime. Visit her at www.catrionamcpherson.com\n\nJennifer J. Chow writes cozies filled with hope and heritage. She’s been a finalist for the Agatha\, Anthony\, Lefty\, and Lilian Jackson Braun Memorial Award. Her newest series is the Magical Fortune Cookie mysteries; the first book is Ill-Fated Fortune\, which Booklist said “will appeal to fans of Jenn McKinlay\, Eve Calder\, or Joanne Fluke.” The most recent book\, Tell-Tale Treats\, was called “a charming cozy with a touch of magic” by Kirkus Reviews. Her previous series include the L.A. Night Market Mysteries and the Sassy Cat Mysteries. Jennifer served as a past president on the board of Sisters in Crime and blogs at chicksonthecase.com. She is an active member of Crime Writers of Color and Mystery Writers of America.\n\nRSVP HERE
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/wreck-your-heart/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Lori-Rader-Day.png
ORGANIZER;CN="People's Book":MAILTO:info@peoplesbooktakoma.com
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260424T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260424T190000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260326T143121Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260411T002848Z
UID:10004928-1777053600-1777057200@peoplesbooktakoma.com
SUMMARY:Christopher Kondrich for Tread Upon
DESCRIPTION:Bold\, incisive\, and wholly original\, Christopher Kondrich’s Tread Upon explores the social\, political\, religious\, and economic drivers behind the chronic devaluation of the living world. In this book-length sequence\, in which each section unravels a word or phrase of the prefatory poem\, Tread Upon sprawls from suburbia to the Southern Ocean\, from the Cape Fear River to the phones in our hands. Kondrich juxtaposes the intimate with the epic\, integrating climate research and reporting to dismantle narratives of anthropocentrism and our individual responsibility amid corporate misinformation. What is the price of our (in)actions and who must pay the cost? In this world where “even one blade is a place\,” the sequence reveals that the violence done to the living world is violence done to ourselves. \nChristopher Kondrich is the author of Contrapuntal and Valuing\, which won the National Poetry Series and was named a best book of 2019 by Library Journal. His poems have appeared widely in such venues as The Atlantic\, The Believer\, The Kenyon Review\, Los Angeles Review of Books\, New England Review\, The New York Review of Books\, The Paris Review\, Ploughshares\, Poetry London\, and The Yale Review\, and he has received fellowships from MacDowell\, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts\, and Yaddo. He is also the coeditor of Creature Needs: Writers Respond the Science of Animal Conservation and an associate editor for 32 Poems. He is currently Visiting Poet in Residence for the Creative Writing MFA program at the University of Maryland. \nTaylor Johnson is proud of being from Washington\, DC. They’ve received fellowships and scholarships from CALLALOO\, Cave Canem\, Lambda Literary\, Tin House\, the Vermont Studio Center\, Yaddo\, the Conversation Literary Festival\, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference\, among others. In 2017\, Taylor received the Larry Neal Writers’ Award from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Their poems appear in The Baffler\, Indiana Review\, Scalawag\, and the Paris Review\, among other journals and literary magazines. Their first book\, Inheritance\, will be published in Fall 2020 with Alice James Books. Taylor lives in southern Louisiana where they listen. \n\n\n\n\n\n\nRSVP HERE.
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/tread-upon/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Christopher-Kondrich-1.png
ORGANIZER;CN="People's Book":MAILTO:info@peoplesbooktakoma.com
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260426T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260426T100000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260326T150741Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260326T150741Z
UID:10004931-1777195800-1777197600@peoplesbooktakoma.com
SUMMARY:Storytime: Joe Cantlupe for Dr. Einsteinorous Becomes a Dentist
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Einsteinorous just graduated\, and he has a varied parade of prehistoric patients visiting him in his new dental office! With smarts\, kindness\, and just a little bit of nerves\, Dr. Einsteinorous teaches his patients—most with hundreds of teeth—how to be healthy. \nBut some of the biggest dinosaurs are . . . scared. Dr Einsteinorous gently teaches them to choose wisely between healthy and junk food. He also shows that while a dentist’s tools might look scary\, they are actually here to help. \nBlending heart and humor\, Dr. Einsteinorous Becomes a Dentist uses vibrant illustrations and playful prose to teach both kids and dinos the importance of healthy teeth. \nJoe Cantlupe is the father of two\, a  prize-winning journalist and artist who loves to tell stories\, portray with paint the world around us\, and has a quirky sense of humor. Cantlupe is a former senior editor for HealthLeaders Media Magazine and contributed to a Pulitzer Prize-winning team at Copley News Service\, The San Diego Union-Tribune. He is the author of Dr. Einsteinorous Becomes a Dentist\,” a children’s book\, and co-author of Badge of Betrayal\, a non-fiction book about a family’s fight for justice after her daughter was slain by a California Highway Patrol officer.  He is a longtime Montgomery County MD\, resident. \nIf you’d like to purchase this title online and still support People’s Book\, follow the link below: \nhttps://bookshop.org/a/98269/9798891387478 \nThis is an in-person event. Seated capacity at People’s Book is 50 patrons. Standing room is an option. All events are first-come\, first-served seating. Accessible seating is always available.
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/dentist-storytime/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events,Children's Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Joe-Cantlupe.png
ORGANIZER;CN="People's Book":MAILTO:info@peoplesbooktakoma.com
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260429T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260429T190000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260320T170410Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260411T003308Z
UID:10004773-1777485600-1777489200@peoplesbooktakoma.com
SUMMARY:Andy Beta for Cosmic Music: The Life\, Art\, and Transcendence of Alice Coltrane
DESCRIPTION:The first full-length biography of Alice Coltrane\, the jazz musician and spiritual leader whose forward-thinking music was overshadowed by her more famous husband\, even as she brilliantly laid the groundwork for the new age\, ambient\, and electronic music that would follow. \nAlice Coltrane (1937-2007) was one of the most misunderstood artists of the last sixty years. For most of her life—and even in the decades since her passing—she was primarily known as the widow of the late John Coltrane. John Coltrane is widely seen as being one of the greatest tenor saxophonists and composers of the 20th century\, with a fervor and devotion approaching sainthood. Yet ever so slowly\, that level of love and appreciation is also being bestowed upon pianist\, organist\, harpist\, and composer Alice Coltrane. \nCosmic Music: The Life\, Art and Transcendence of Alice Coltrane is the first full biography of this remarkable\, groundbreaking artist\, and is an elegant\, deeply researched corrective to the historical—and critical—record. It elevates Alice Coltrane to her proper place\, both alongside her husband as one of the greatest musical visionaries of the 20th century\, and also as a singular artist in Western music\, one who became a spiritual leader in her lifetime. \nIn the years since her passing\, she has become a great influence on a new generation of musicians\, especially women\, people of color\, and artists who seek to combine jazz with other musical forms\, be it modern classical\, electronic\, Indian music\, and more. Cosmic Music also unearths previously unknown connections between Alice Coltrane and other generational icons\, from Stevie Wonder\, Carlos Santana\, and Nina Simone to Mother Teresa and Doja Cat. \nIn Alice Coltrane’s music\, one can perceive the transformation of Black American music in microcosm\, the gospel roots giving rise to jazz and bebop\, then intermingling with soul and R&B\, and then onto rock\, modern classical\, psychedelia\, and new age. Cosmic Music\, based on extensive research and scores of new interviews by music journalist Andy Beta\, is the definitive account of a visionary whose influence is only just beginning to be appreciated in full. \nAndy Beta is an award-winning arts and music writer. His writing on rock\, jazz\, experimental\, and electronic music has appeared in the New York Times\, Wall Street Journal\, Pitchfork\, Rolling Stone\, the Washington Post\, Los Angeles Times\, Texas Monthly\, NPR\, We Jazz Magazine\, and many more. He currently lives in New York City with his family. \nRSVP HERE.
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/cosmic-music/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Andy-Beta.png
ORGANIZER;CN="People's Book":MAILTO:info@peoplesbooktakoma.com
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260430T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260430T193000
DTSTAMP:20260609T212442
CREATED:20260211T200723Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260411T003652Z
UID:10004664-1777573800-1777577400@peoplesbooktakoma.com
SUMMARY:Emily Dufton for Addiction\, Inc.
DESCRIPTION:How the war on drugs created the gold standard treatment for addiction—until America’s opioid crisis got privatized for profit\, to the detriment of patients. \nDespite epidemic levels of overdoses in the United States\, by 2020\, only twenty percent of Americans suffering from opioid use disorder (OUD) received medication-assisted treatment (MAT)\, the gold standard of addiction treatment\, which uses methadone\, buprenorphine\, or naltrexone to reduce illicit drug use and curb the symptoms of withdrawal. While MAT is the most effective treatment available for OUD\, it’s also the most controversial\, the most expensive\, and the most difficult to access. And yet\, the medications at the center of this treatment—and the private industries that distribute them—generate roughly sixteen billion dollars each year\, on par with national sales of coffee and pet food. \nIn Addiction\, Inc.\, historian Emily Dufton explains how this promising avenue of treatment emerged during President Richard Nixon’s war on drugs in 1971 as a radical experiment in public health\, when hundreds of federally-funded treatment clinics opened nationwide. Dufton then explores how these nationalized clinics gave way to an immensely profitable private industry that offers poor care at high costs to an insufficient number of people. Drawing on original research and over a hundred interviews with policymakers\, medical experts\, pharmaceutical lobbyists\, and patients and their families\, she tells a gripping story of squandered potential and missed opportunities\, as MAT transformed from a revolutionary political project launched from the White House itself into a commercial success—and a public health disaster. \nUrgent\, eye-opening\, and deeply human\, Addiction\, Inc. reveals how\, over the past fifty years\, the United States built an addiction treatment system that made recovery harder instead of easier\, and what it will take to change its course. \nEmily Dufton is the author of Grass Roots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America. The recipient of a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant\, her writing has appeared in the Washington Post\, Smithsonian magazine\, and other publications. She lives with her husband and children outside Washington\, DC. \nRSVP HERE. 
URL:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/addiction-inc/
LOCATION:People’s Book\, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave.\, Takoma Park\, MD\, 20912\, United States
CATEGORIES:Author Events
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Emily-Dufton.png
ORGANIZER;CN="People's Book":MAILTO:info@peoplesbooktakoma.com
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