Briggs Carriage Bookstore -- January Events

January Events


Thursday, January 10 - 7:00 p.m.
DEBORAH & NICHOLAS CLIFFORD - In The Troubled Roar of the Waters historians Deborah and Nicholas Clifford bring to life Vermont's perfect storm: the dreadful days in November of 1927 when torrential rains turned an unseasonably warm autumn into a nightmare, and the Green Mountain State found itself covered by a "cube of water more than a mile high a mile long, and a mile broad," according to meteorologists at the time. The Cliffords chronicle both the wreckage - swollen rivers dragging bridges, railway lines, houses, barns, animals, and people downstream to destruction - and the recovery, managed by a cast of gritty Vermonters who strove with heroic efficiency to return their state to working order. Teeming with vivid details and useful insights, the Cliffords' book is a model of micro-history.


Thursday, January 17 - 7:00 p.m.
JON FURMAN - Today, small populations of timber rattlesnakes quietly inhabit parts of Rutland County in Vermont, and Warren, Washington, and Essex counties in New York. Because the species is endangered, the exact locations of established dens in this area are a closely guarded secret. Insider, naturalist, and author Jon Furman, author of the new book, Timber Rattlesnakes in Vermont & New York: Biology, History, and the Fate of an Endangered Species, has devoted years to the study of the snake's past and present range, its habitat and biology, the period in Vermont and upstate New York history during which timber rattlesnakes were ruthlessly bounty-hunted, and the outlook for this severely threatened species in both states. Join him for a fascinating evening and learn about this little-known local subject.


Thursday, January 24 - 7:00 p.m.
MARC ESTRIN - Critically acclaimed Vermont writer, cellist and activist, Marc Estrin presents his new novel, The Lamentations of Julius Marantz. The New York Times says that Estrin is "consistently learned and funny." From the first page we are plunged into a global riot of paranoia, joy, and fear. The voice of these Lamentations is a sixty-something, club-footed scientist named Julius Marantz, an obsessive researcher who suffers from both forbidden knowledge and an insistent conscience. Part a portrait of cynical politics and religious fervor, part scientific speculation and part meditation on the glories of Coney Island, the novel provides us with fuel for an evening of serious and comic adventure.


Thursday, January 31 - 7:00 p.m.
TODD McLEISH - In his new book, Golden Wings & Hairy Toes: Encounters with New England's Most Imperiled Wildlife, author Todd McLeish takes the reader on an adventure with field biologists working to better understand the natural history, ecology, habitat requirements, and conservation status of 14 of New England's rarest plants and animals. He explains the subtleties that make each of these 14 species unique - as well as the people who study them - and in the process provides plenty of reasons to "help postpone permanently the day that they, like the heath hen, disappear entirely." Mr. McLeish will read from, discuss, and sign copies of his book.