Tuesday, July 25, 2017
6:30 p.m. — 8:00 p.m.

Read the book that inspired the award winning musical and join the discussion of Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow. This landmark biography recounts Hamilton’s turbulent life as an illegitimate, largely self-taught orphan from the Caribbean who took America by storm, rising to become George Washington’s aide-de-camp in the Continental Army, co-authoring the Federalist papers, founding the Bank of New York, leading the Federalist Party, and becoming the first Treasury Secretary of the United States. Chernow also tells the story of Hamilton’s wife, Eliza, a remarkable woman who lived to the age of 97. As a young wife, she endured with dignity the controversy over Hamilton’s affair with Maria Reynolds, the first political sex scandal in American history. The book also includes a vivid account of Hamilton’s famous and mysterious death in a duel with Aaron Burr in July 1804.

Author Awards:

• • 1990 – National Book Award Nonfiction (The House of Morgan)
• • 1998 – National Book Critics Circle finalist, biography (Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller)
• • 2004 – George Washington Book Prize and National Book Critics Circle finalist, biography (Alexander Hamilton)
• • 2011 – Pulitzer Prize for Biography and American History Book Prize (Washington: A Life)
• • 2013 – BIO Award from Biographers International Organization for advancing the art and craft of biography
• • 2015 – National Humanities Medal

Presented by:
Katie O’Laughlin, Librarian, Reference & Research, LA Law Library

Registration fees: FREE
Classes fill up fast, register today to reserve your seat! All registrants must check-in 10 minutes prior to class time to ensure your seat is not reassigned to waiting-list and walk-in attendees when classes are full.

Photography / Videography:
If you register for this class, you may be photographed or recorded. By registering for this class you are giving the LA Law Library your consent to photograph, videotape, record and broadcast your picture, likeness, voice and statements.  

No legal advice:
LA Law Library does not provide legal advice. LA Law Library provides legal resources and assistance with legal research as an educational service. The Law Library is pleased to offer our patrons the opportunity to obtain assistance from third party legal service providers at this and other events within the Library. However, the Library does not control and is not responsible for the content or scope of any assistance given by those providers.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Join the LA Law Library book discussion series as we explore wrongful criminal convictions and the immeasurable consequences that follow those who are eventually acquitted. Anatomy of Innocence: Testimonies of the Wrongfully Convicted, tells the incredible true stories of more than a dozen innocent men and women who were wrongfully convicted. Each exoneree is paired with a high profile mystery/ thriller writer to produce a unique collaboration that challenges readers to confront the limitations and harsh realities of the American criminal justice system.

The editors of Anatomy of Innocence and several authors will be present to participate in the discussion, including:

• Laura Caldwell, editor and award winning founder/director of Life After Innocence at Loyola U. Chicago School of Law and author of 14 novels;
• Leslie S. Klinger, editor, practicing lawyer, and editor of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes;
• Jan Burke, Edgar Award winning author of numerous mysteries and thrillers and founder of the Crime Lab Project;
• John Mankiewicz, film and television writer and an executive producer of the Netflix series House of Cards;
• Gary Phillips, author of mystery novels, short stories and editor of several anthologies. Former communications director for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.

Books will be available for purchase at the discussion. Proceeds from the sale of Anatomy of Innocence will benefit Life After Innocence: https://lifeafterinnocence.wordpress.com/about-the-clinic/

Registration fees: FREE
Classes fill up fast, register today to reserve your seat! All registrants must check-in 10 minutes prior to class time to ensure your seat is not reassigned to waiting-list and walk-in attendees when classes are full.

Photography / Videography:
If you register for this class, you may be photographed or recorded. By registering for this class you are giving the LA Law Library your consent to photograph, videotape, record and broadcast your picture, likeness, voice and statements.  

No legal advice:
LA Law Library does not provide legal advice. LA Law Library provides legal resources and assistance with legal research as an educational service. The Law Library is pleased to offer our patrons the opportunity to obtain assistance from third party legal service providers at this and other events within the Library. However, the Library does not control and is not responsible for the content or scope of any assistance given by those providers.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Read the book and join the discussion of our First Amendment right to free speech! Freedom of Speech: Mightier Than the Sword, by David K. Shipler is a provocative, timely assessment of the state of free speech in America. The author offers an on-the-ground, anecdotal portrait of an eclectic and rich mix of speech controversies. The book covers local battles over books in schools and libraries; the fate of a politically sensitive play in a Jewish theater in Washington, D.C.; responses to racially insensitive remarks by public and private figures; and the role of religious organizations in political campaigns. These and other stories reveal the systematic patterns of both suppression and opportunity that are making today a transitional moment for the future of one of our founding principles.

Exercise your right to free speech by attending the book discussion and sharing your thoughts and insights on this important and vital right!

Registration fees: FREE
Classes fill up fast, register today to reserve your seat! All registrants must check-in 10 minutes prior to class time to ensure your seat is not reassigned to waiting-list and walk-in attendees when classes are full.

The first 10 registrants will be eligible to receive a complimentary copy of Freedom of Speech, courtesy of Vintage Books, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC.

Photography / Videography:
If you register for this class, you may be photographed or recorded. By registering for this class you are giving the LA Law Library your consent to photograph, videotape, record and broadcast your picture, likeness, voice and statements.  

No legal advice:
LA Law Library does not provide legal advice. LA Law Library provides legal resources and assistance with legal research as an educational service. The Law Library is pleased to offer our patrons the opportunity to obtain assistance from third party legal service providers at this and other events within the Library. However, the Library does not control and is not responsible for the content or scope of any assistance given by those providers.

Tuesday, February 6, 2018
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

In honor of African American History Month, the LALL Book Discussion Group invites you to read the book and join the discussion of The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson

The migration lasted from 1915 to 1970 and involved six million people who moved from the American South to escape harsh segregationist laws and find better opportunities. They were seeking political asylum within the borders of their own country, not unlike refugees in other parts of the world fleeing famine, war and political unrest. Wilkerson weaves the stories of three young people who headed north and west during different decades of the 20th century, including Robert Joseph Pershing Foster, a surgeon who journeyed from Louisiana to California and ended up in Los Angeles. The Great Migration changed the cultural and political landscape of America, exerting pressure on the South to change and paving the way toward equal rights for all. It also exposed the racial divisions and disparities throughout the country that continue to plague the nation and dominate headlines today.

Awards:

• 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
• New York Times 10 Best Books of 2010
• Best of the year lists in The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Economist, The San Francisco Examiner, Newsday, The Christian Science Monitor, O Magazine, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews and more

Registration fees: FREE
Classes fill up fast, register today to reserve your seat! All registrants must check-in 10 minutes prior to class time to ensure your seat is not reassigned to waiting-list and walk-in attendees when classes are full.

The first 10 registrants will be eligible to receive a complimentary copy of The Warmth of Other Suns, courtesy of Vintage & Anchor Books, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC.

Photography / Videography:
If you register for this class, you may be photographed or recorded. By registering for this class you are giving the LA Law Library your consent to photograph, videotape, record and broadcast your picture, likeness, voice and statements.  

No legal advice:
LA Law Library does not provide legal advice. LA Law Library provides legal resources and assistance with legal research as an educational service. The Law Library is pleased to offer our patrons the opportunity to obtain assistance from third party legal service providers at this and other events within the Library. However, the Library does not control and is not responsible for the content or scope of any assistance given by those providers.