| Library Speakers Consortium | Library Speakers Consortium | <div class="ExternalClassA8257B867E4D4EEA96D0713DF856DD10"><h2>Enjoy a range of talks from bestselling authors and thought leaders.</h2><p>Brought to you in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium.<br></p><p><a href="https://libraryc.org/phoenixpubliclibrary" target="_blank">Learn more.</a><br><br></p><p><img src="/images/eLibrary/LSC/LSC-3.24_Walter-Kingsolver_web.jpg" alt="" style="margin:5px;" /></p><div><h3><a href="https://libraryc.org/phoenixpubliclibrary/117311" target="_blank">America’s Failed Response to the Opioid Crisis with Author Shoshana Walter</a></h3><h4><em><strong>With Special Guest Host Barbara Kingsolver</strong></em></h4><h4>Tuesday, March 24 at 11 a.m.<br><br></h4><p>Join us for a special conversation between award-winning journalist Shoshana Walter and bestselling and award-winning author Barbara Kingsolver as they chat about Walter’s book <em>Rehab: An American Scandal</em>. In this work, Walter, a Pulitzer finalist, exposes the country’s failed response to the opioid crisis, and the malfeasance, corruption, and snake oil which blight the drug rehabilitation industry.<br><br>Today, more people have access to treatment than ever before. So why isn’t it working? The answer is that in America—where anyone can get addicted—only certain people get a real chance to recover. Despite record numbers of overdose deaths, our default response is still to punish, while rehabs across the United States fail to incorporate scientifically proven strategies and exploit patients. <br><br>In this book, you’ll find the stories of four people who represent the failures of the rehab-industrial complex, and the ways our treatment system often prevents recovery. April is a black mom in Philadelphia, who witnessed firsthand how the government’s punitive response to the crack epidemic impeded her mother’s recovery—and then her own. Chris, a young middle-class white man from Louisiana, received more opportunities in his addiction than April, including the chance to go to treatment instead of prison. Yet the only program the judge permitted was one that forced him to perform unpaid back-breaking labor at for-profit companies. Wendy is a mother from a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles, whose son died in a sober living home. She began investigating for-profit treatment programs—yet law enforcement and regulators routinely ignored her warnings, allowing rehab patients to die, again and again. Larry is a surgeon who himself struggled with addiction, and would eventually become one of the first Suboxone prescribers in the nation, drawing the scrutiny of the Drug Enforcement Administration. <br></p><p><a href="https://libraryc.org/phoenixpubliclibrary/117311" target="_blank">Be sure to register now to participate in this urgent conversation</a> and learn insight on how we might fix the system to save lives.<br><br></p><p><img src="/images/eLibrary/LSC/LSC-4.2_Neal_web.jpg" alt="" style="margin:5px;" /><br></p><h3><a href="https://libraryc.org/phoenixpubliclibrary/145458" target="_blank">On a Mission: The History of US Women Astronauts with Smithsonian Curator Emerita Valerie Neal</a></h3><p><em><strong>A Library Speakers Consortium and Smithsonian Institution Collaboration</strong><br></em><span style="font-size:1em;color:#777777;">Thursday, April 2 at 11 a.m.</span></p><p><span style="font-size:1em;color:#777777;"></span></p><p>Join us for an exhilarating journey through the history of US women astronauts with Valerie Neal, emerita curator from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and expert on human spaceflight.</p><p>Sally Ride became a household name as the first American woman in space, but scores of equally impressive women have also left their mark in space. <em>On a Mission: The Smithsonian History of US Women Astronauts</em> spans 45 years and 61 astronauts to share the epic journeys of women who made space for themselves in a male-dominated field. </p><p>Valerie Neal interviewed many of the US women astronauts to bring their experiences to life. She offers a culturally insightful history of their achievements, the challenges they've faced, and their distinctive stories. Collectively, they've completed more than 100 space shuttle missions, and more than 30 long-duration stays on the International Space Station and Russian Space Station Mir, and they continue to prove themselves in present-day space exploration efforts.</p><p>The book includes 50 black-and-white photographs to complement the historical account. With its sweeping look from the first women astronauts to Christina Hammock Koch, assigned to the first crewed Artemis mission around the Moon, there is no comparably thorough book on America's women astronauts. <em>On a Mission</em> is an inspiring tribute to unsung women's history.</p><p><a href="https://libraryc.org/phoenixpubliclibrary/145458" target="_blank">Register now to take part in this inspirational discussion! </a><br><br></p><p><img src="/images/eLibrary/LSC/LSC-4.14_Taylor_web.jpg" alt="" style="margin:5px;" /> </p><h3><a href="https://libraryc.org/phoenixpubliclibrary/146082" target="_blank">On Writing Action-Packed and Suspenseful Spycraft with Brad Taylor</a><br></h3><h4>Tuesday, April 14 at 4 p.m.</h4><p><br>Join us in conversation with acclaimed author Brad Taylor on his latest work, <em>Shadow Strike</em>, book 20 (yes, you read that right!) of the bestselling <em>Pike Logan</em> series. <br></p><p>After its proxies are devastated and its offensive capability pummeled in the latest war in the middle east, a rogue group of Iranian regime officials create a brazen plot to strike back at their hated enemies once and for all. They envision a series of operational dominos culminating in a devastating attack, and the first step is the assassination of the Israeli prime minister. And there’s only one assassin with the skills to pull it off: Abdul Rahman, known in the shadows as the Ghost. <br>When a routine prison transfer is ambushed, the Ghost escapes and is given the assignment. The only Operator who can hunt him down is the man who stopped him before: Pike Logan.<br><br>Pike and his team soon learn that the mission involves something bigger than just the escape of his old enemy. Working with Mossad agents, the pursuit leads the Taskforce to Argentina. They work to unravel the scope of the attack, and the chase leads them through the tempestuous waterfalls of Iguazu and the Triple Frontier, to the vibrant streets of Buenos Aires, and the tiny village of Ushuaia at the “End of the World”. <br><br>As the team races against the clock, Pike learns the stakes are much greater than a single life – the consequences extend into the heartland of America itself. The Ghost may hold the key to an escalation that will upend the worldwide balance of power, and if Pike fails, the fallout won’t just be personal – it’ll be global.<br><br><a href="https://libraryc.org/phoenixpubliclibrary/146082" target="_blank">Register today to learn why the <em>Pike Logan</em> series has everyone buzzing!</a><br><br></p></div><h3 style="text-align:center;"><a href="https://libraryc.org/phoenixpubliclibrary" target="_blank">Learn more about the Library Speakers Consortium and view all upcoming events.</a><br></h3><div><br></div><div><br><br></div></div> |
