We're pleased to join the Historic Albany Foundation and Discover Albany to announce the next selection for our Virtual Book Club.
The book
The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth and Power by Deirdre Mask.
The dates
Meetings: 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays, January 26, February 2 and 9.
How to join
Sign up on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/712130266158526/
or email kparker@historic-albany.org.
Zoom link: http://bit.ly/2XhYvBu
Registration is free
From the book jacket:
"When most people think about street addresses, if they think of them at all, it is in their capacity to ensure that the postman can deliver mail or a traveler won’t get lost. But street addresses were not invented to help you find your way; they were created to find you. In many parts of the world, your address can reveal your race and class.
In this wide-ranging and remarkable book, Deirdre Mask looks at the fate of streets named after Martin Luther King Jr., the wayfinding means of ancient Romans, and how Nazis haunt the streets of modern Germany. The flipside of having an address is not having one, and we also see what that means for millions of people today, including those who live in the slums of Kolkata and on the streets of London. Filled with fascinating people and histories, The Address Book illuminates the complex and sometimes hidden stories behind street names and their power to name, to hide, to decide who counts, who doesn’t―and why."
We will read a third of the book in preparation for each session (around 90 pages)
We encourage you to shop local
You may purchase The Address Book at the local, independent Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza. https://www.bhny.com/book/9781250134769
Get to know the author Deirdre Mask