Book Groups (2020-21)

LWVS COMMUNITY BOOK GROUPS

The League seasonally chooses a book that is interesting, timely, and thought-provoking as the subject of a community book discussion. Open to all and typically held at a member’s home (over Zoom during pandemics), these discussions are casual and collegial, honest and lively. Leave with new knowledge and insight, and maybe a few new friends!

SPRING COMMUNITY BOOK DISCUSSION

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Thursday, April 15, 2021, at 7pm via Zoom
Meeting ID: 837 1875 0796
Passcode: 191004

Please RSVP using the form below to join us in a moderated discussion of Caste, one of the most talked about books of the year, the 2020 bestseller by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson.

Joining us via Zoom will be Richard Westmoreland*, retired Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel and former F/A-18 pilot, mentioned in the book for his participation in the Confederate monument debate in New Orleans from 2015 to 2017 as a vocal proponent of removal. Before the murders in South Carolina brought national attention to the issue, Westmoreland had been writing to local government and media and appearing on local radio and television about the “historical lie” that Confederate monuments and street names perpetuated, calling them “an affront to the truth and an affront to decency.” Westmoreland will share his experience of speaking at the New Orleans City Council and the frightening aftermath.

*Westmoreland is a 1983 graduate of the University of Louisville, flew more than 100 missions in two conflicts earning five Air Medals during his service, moved to New Orleans in 2014, and continues to work as an aviation professional. Since moving to New Orleans, he has been thoroughly involved with the issues of historical accuracy and racial decency as New Orleans continues to reckon with its Confederate past. He has written several articles on these subjects and appeared on local radio and television discussing the issue.

Bronx River Books in Scarsdale Village is offering a 10% discount on the purchase of the book when you mention you are participating in the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale Book Group.

LWVS Centennial Cocktail

As part of our Centennial celebration, book club participants will also receive the recipe for LWVS Board Member Beatrice Sevcik’s and spouse Tony Gibney’s League Centennial Cocktail, to make in time and enjoy during the book discussion.

PAST LWVS BOOK SELECTIONS

  • Winter 2020 – Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions by Valeria Luiselli and Melting Pot or Civil War: A Son of Immigrants Makes the Case Against Open Borders by Reihan Salam
  • Spring 2019 – How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley
  • Fall 2018 – One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Democracy by Carol Anderson
  • Spring 2018 – Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
  • Fall 2017 – Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World by Linda Hirschman
  • Fall 2016 – Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
  • Spring 2016 – Dark Money, The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer
  • Fall 2015 – The Prize: Who’s In Charge of America’s Schools by Dale Russakoff
  • Spring 2015 – The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs