Henry Beston and the Outermost House with Don Wilding
Local author Don Wilding presents the story of the Outermost House. Henry Beston’s book, “The Outermost House,” is considered to be one of the great nature books ever written. Learn how Beston’s trail to Cape Cod began at the Battle of Verdun in World War I, how he tapped into the healing power of nature on Cape Cod’s Outer Beach, how “The Outermost House” inspired legislators in Washington to establish the Cape Cod National Seashore, and the influence that Beston and “The Outermost House” had on Rachel Carson, other nature writers, and the American environmental movement.
Curtis Martin on the Life of an American Whaler
Please join Curtis Martin for a presentation on 19th century whaling in America. The hunting of whales and extracting their oil was difficult, dirty and dangerous work. Mr. Martin will use photographs and other illustrations to discuss how men were recruited, why they signed up for two to five years to labor on a wind-and sea tossed ship and the many aspects of life on a whaling ship. He has a BA from Harvard and a PhD from Tufts, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Mr. Martin taught International Relations, Comparative Politics and US Foreign Policy at Merrimack College in Andover, MA. He began lecturing on American Whaling in 2014.
Puritan, Entrepreneur...Heretic? William Pynchon, Massachusetts pioneer, and author of the first book banned (and burned) in North America
David M. Powers talks about his book on William Pynchon, fur trader, America's first meat packer, founder of Springfield, MA, and defender of the rights of local tribes. Pynchon's book The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption, a critique of his place and times' dominant religious doctrine, published in London in 1640, made its way to Boston and was immediately burned on the Boston Common (only 4 copies survived), and soon after became the New World's first-ever banned book. He was accused of heresy and eventually forced to flee the colony and return to England.