A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War Thursday, July 14, 2011 Time: 6:00 PM-7:00 PM Place: Lecture Hall Amanda Foreman, author of the international best seller Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, which won the Whitbread Prize for Best Biography, will discuss and sign A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War. The book tells one of the least-known great stories of British and American history uncovering the pivotal and major role played by Britain and its citizens during the war. Foreman provides fresh accounts of Civil War battles and shows how the war spread to Britain and was fought just as continuously there as it was in America. The publication of A World on Fire coincides with a date famous in naval history-the battle between the USS Kearsarge and the CSS Alabama in the English Channel. At the heart of this international conflict lay a complicated and at times tortuous relationship between four individuals: Lord Lyons, the painfully shy British ambassador in Washington; William Seward, the blustering U.S. secretary of state; Charles Francis Adams (grandson of John Adams and the son of John Quincy Adams), the dry but fiercely patriotic U.S. ambassador in London; and the restless and abrasive foreign secretary, Lord John Russell. For all their well-meaning efforts, and sometimes as a result of them, America and Britain came within a whisker of declaring war on each other twice in four years. In the drawing rooms of London and the offices of Washington, on muddy fields and aboard packed ships, Foreman reveals the decisions made, the beliefs held and contested, and the personal triumphs and sacrifices that ultimately led to the reunification of America. "Books on Broad" Featuring Charles Shields: Harper Lee and Kurt Vonnegut Thursday, July 21, 2011 Time: 5:30 PM-7:30 PM Place: The Virginia Shop Virginia author Charles Shields will join us to discuss his research and biographical writings about two of the 20th century's most beloved authors, Harper Lee and Kurt Vonnegut. Light refreshments (wine and cheese) will be served (5:30--6:15 PM), followed by author talk (6:15--7:15 PM), and book signing (7:15--7:30 PM). The Virginia Plan: William B. Thalhimer and a Rescue from Nazi Germany Thursday, July 28, 2011 Time: Noon-1:00 PM Place: Conference Rooms Robert H. Gillette will discuss and sign his new book recounting an untold saga of sacrifice, survival, and hope on two continents. Among the Jews attempting to flee Nazi Germany before World War II were the students of Gross Breesen Institute who hoped to secure visas and refuge in America. The Jewish community in Richmond viewed the Third Reich with increasing unease and, in a bold plan, department store owner William B. Thalhimer created a safe haven for the students on a Burkeville farm. This is the remarkable history of Thalhimer's heroic rescue mission and the struggle of the refugees to make a new home in rural America. ---- The Library of Virginia is located in historic downtown Richmond at 800 East Broad Street. There is free parking for these event in the Library's underground garage, which is accessible from either Eighth or Ninth streets. For more information, please call 804-692-3592. Nothing says "Virginia" like a gift from The Virginia Shop. Shop online <blocked::http://www.thevirginiashop.org/> or call 804-692-3524. Have breakfast or lunch in the Positive Vibe Express in the Library of Virginia. Follow the Library of Virginia on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LibraryofVA) and Twitter (@LibraryofVA) For more on other upcoming events at the Library of Virginia, visit http://www.lva.virginia.gov/news/index.htm <blocked::blocked::blocked::http://www.lva.virginia.gov/news/index.htm> . ______________________________________ To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html