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September 5, 2000
Press contact: Guy Lamolinara (202) 707-9217
Public contact (202) 707-5221

Theodore Zeldin and Guests Michael Kahn and Judi Moore Latta to Discuss Conversation at the Library on September 28

British historian Theodore Zeldin, who has been hailed by the Independent on Sunday (London) as "one of the forty world figures whose ideas are likely to have a lasting relevance to the new millennium," will discuss his book Conversation at the Library of Congress on Thursday, September 28, at 7 p.m. in the Mumford Room, sixth floor, Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave S.E. Part of the Center for the Book's "Books & Beyond" author series, the program is free and open to the public. No tickets are required

Two well-known Washingtonians will join Mr. Zeldin for the program: Michael Kahn, artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre, and Judi Moore Latta, professor and acting chair of the Department of Radio, TV and Film at Howard University. A small 112-page book with 36 color illustrations, Conversation is being published for the first time in the United States by HiddenSpring, a new publisher of nonfiction. When it was published in Europe in 1998, the book was praised by the Sunday Times of London as "a brilliant mini-treatise on why and how we talk to each other." The Los Angeles Times Book Review recently called Conversation "a meditation on how this graceful dying art might help us evolve." The volume began as a series of talks on the BBC.

Theodore Zeldin is best known in the United States as the author of An Intimate History of Humanity (HarperCollins, 1995), which offers a provocative perspective on human history by focusing on the evolution of feelings and personal relationships. A fellow and former dean of St. Anthony's College, Oxford, he is a member of the BBC Brains Trust, the British Academy and the European Academy.

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress was established in 1977 to stimulate public interest in books, reading, and libraries. For information about its program, publications, and the activities of its affiliated centers in 40 states and the District of Columbia, visit its Web site at www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook.

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PR 00-131
9/5/00
ISSN 0731-3527