BOOK CLUBS

American Lives Book Club

This group meets on the Second Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm. The American Lives is a non-traditional book group that focuses on the lives of influential Americans. It will focus on the person rather than the book. Choose to read one or more biographies about our subject, each book on the list presents a different view. This will prompt lively discussions facilitated by Bill Wilson. Remote participation available.

Participants are invited to read additional biographies as well.

Please Note Date Change! Monday, September 15, 2025 – 6:30 PM –  Supreme Rule: Landmark Supreme Court Decisions

• John Marshall: The Chief Justice Who Saved the Nation, by Harlow Giles Unger
  
• Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made, by Jim Newton
• Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary, by Juan Williams
• Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World, by Linda Hirshman
• My Own Words, by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court, by Bob Woodward & Scott Armstrong
• The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, by Jeffrey Toobin
• The Supreme Court Landmark Decisions: 20 Cases that Changed America, by Tony Mauro

Tuesday, October 14, 2025 – 6:30 PM –  Kings (and a Queen) of the Hill: Speakers of the U.S. House

• Kings of the Hill: How Nine Powerful Men Changed the Course of American History by Richard Cheney & Lynne V. Cheney
  
• Henry Clay: America’s Greatest Statesman by Harlow Giles Unger
• Rayburn: A Biography by D. B. Hardeman & Donald Bacon
• Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked by Chris Matthews
• Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich, the Fall of the Speaker, and the Rise of the New Republican Party by Julian E. Zelizer
• Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power by Susan Page

Tuesday, November 11, 2025 – 6:30 PM –  Presidents on the World Stage: Presidents and Autocrats

• Warlords: An Extraordinary Re-Creation of World War II through the Eyes and Minds of Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin by Simon Berthon & Joanna Potts
  
• One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War by Michael Dobbs
• Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan
• The United States and China in the Twentieth Century by Michael Schaller
• Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended by Jack F. Matlock
• FRONTLINE VIDEO HERE

Tuesday, December 9, 2025 – 6:30 PM –  Presidents on the World Stage: Wartime Presidents

• War of 1812
  • Mr. and Mrs. Madison’s War: America’s First Couple and the Second War of Independence by Hugh Howard
• Mexican-American War
  • A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico by Amy S. Greenburg
• Civil War
  • Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief by James M. McPherson
• World War I
  • Woodrow Wilson: A Biography by John Milton Cooper Jr.
• World War II
  • FDR: The War President. 1940-1943: A History by Kenneth S. Davis
  • Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II by Evan Thomas
• Korean War
  • The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam
• Vietnam War
  • The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam
• Additional Reading: Presidents of War by Michael Beschloss

Library Hours

Monday: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Tuesday: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Wednesday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Thursday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sunday: 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.