Program for Sunday, March 27, 2022

Carla Kaplan shares insights from her book-length study of social activist Jessica Mitford, “Queen of the Muckrakers.” Beginning with her 1963 blockbuster The American Way of Death –an exposé of the funeral industry’s exploitation of the poor–Mitford’s writing revived, and radicalized, Gilded Age ideas of civic responsibility in ways which continue to impact contemporary debates over social inequality, whistle blowing, and the ethics of writing. Kaplan shows us how Mitford’s life choices and intellectual insights are relevant today.

Pre-register for this program by clicking here.

All are welcome. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Meeting platform will open at 9:30 for informal socializing. Program will begin promptly at 10:00.

Carla Kaplan, lives mostly in Eastham and is a member of Nauset Fellowship. She is Davis Distinguished Professor of American Literature at Northeastern University, has published 7 books, including Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance and Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters, both New York Times Notable Books, as well as the definitive editions of Nella Larsen’s novels Passing and Quicksand. A Guggenheim and NEH “Public Scholar” Fellow, she has also held fellowships from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, the Hutchins Center for African and African American Studies, and elsewhere.