Webcasts Home
Browse:
- Biography, History
- Culture, Performing Arts
- Education
- Government
- Poetry, Literature
- Religion
- Science, Technology
More Audio, Video Resources at the Library
TITLE: Patience and Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places and Book Culture
SPEAKER: Nicholas Basbanes
EVENT DATE: 11/08/2001
RUNNING TIME: 57 minutes
DESCRIPTION:
Based on dozens of interviews, "Patience and Fortitude" is filled with personal stories about the relevance of books and book culture for individuals and nations.
Speaker Biography: A native of Lowell, Mass., Nicholas Basbanes graduated from Bates College in 1965, received a master's degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1968 and served as a naval officer aboard the aircraft carrier Oriskany in the Tonkin Gulf in 1969 and 1970. An award-winning investigative reporter during the early 1970s, Basbanes was literary editor of the Worcester Sunday Telegram from 1978 to 1991, and for eight years after that wrote a nationally syndicated column on books and authors. He is a former president of the Friends of the Robert H. Goddard Library of Clark University, which has established a student book collecting competition in his honor. His first book, "A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books," was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in nonfiction for 1995, and was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. He has also written "Among the Gently Mad: Perspectives and Strategies for the Book-Hunter of the 21st Century." In addition to his books about books, Basbanes has written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian, Civilization and New England Quarterly and lectures widely on book-related subjects. In 2004, he began writing a bi-monthly column, "Gently Mad," for Fine Books & Collections magazine. With his wife, Constance, he writes a monthly review of children?s books for Literary Features Syndicate, which they established in 1993. They are the parents of two daughters, Barbara and Nicole, and live in North Grafton, Mass.
Related Webcasts
SERIES: Books & Beyond