Joseph Wensink

Jack Burden and the Limits of Political Idealism

Joseph Wensink is a PhD candidate in English at Brandeis University, where he teaches writing. He has written on the links between intellectual history and the modern American novel, and is particularly interested in studying Warren’s Jack Burden as a failed idealist. In his talk, he offered a close reading of several passages from the book that shed light on Burden’s character.

Tricia Welsch

Filming American Politics

Tricia Welsch is Associate Professor of Film Studies at Bowdoin College. Welsch used clips to compare the 1949 film version of "All the King’s Men" starring Broderick Crawford and the 2006 re-make starring Sean Penn. Since those clips are protected by copyright, this excerpt from her talk includes only the background material she gave on Hollywood’s treatment of politics and film adaptations of novels.

Ray Arsenault

The Huey Long-Willie Stark Connection

Ray Arsenault is Professor of History at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg. He is an expert on contemporary Southern politics, notably the phenomenon of the political demagogue. He appeared as part of the Organization of American Historians’ Distinguished Lecturer series, which honors major scholars who are also outstanding teachers. Here, he discusses the life and times of Huey Long, Louisiana’s governor and U.S. Senator in the depths of the Depression, and a potential rival to FDR as a presidential candidate.

Share Our Wealth

In 1934, Huey Long organized the Share-Our-Wealth Society, which advocated a populist program for redistributing wealth. In this April 1935 radio address, Long sharply criticized FDR and the New Deal and then sketched out his alternative program. (From the collection of Andy Lanset – used with permission.)

Bill Roorbach

Like other authors in this podcast, Bill Roorbach has written about a very personal part of Maine. Temple Stream (Dell, 2005) considers the stream that borders the fields below his house in Farmington; it won the nonfiction Maine Literary Award. His stories and novels deal with equally real and natural people. And he produces “teacherly tomes” on memoirs, essays, and Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: The Art of Truth (Oxford University Press, 2001).

This interview with Roorbach by Charlotte Albright was included on the Council’s 30th Anniversary CD, “Maine Writers Speak.”

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Masha Hamilton

The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton is a tale about an American librarian, Fiona Sweeney, who leaves Brooklyn to work for a relief organization in Africa that sends books on the backs of camels to forgotten villages. Fiona’s intentions are entirely pure but, when the bookmobile causes a feud among the nomadic tribe it aims to help, she realizes her good deeds may come with a high price. Hamilton worked as a foreign correspondent for The Associated Press for five years in the Middle East, spent five years in Moscow where she was a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, then traveled to Afghanistan as a freelance journalist. She currently lives with her family in Brooklyn. To donate books to the real camel bookmobile in northern Kenya, visit the Camel Book Drive.

This reading was part of the Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Lecture Series, sponsored by Martin’s Point Health Care.

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Wesley McNair

The Council sponsored a poetry reading by Wesley McNair at the State Street Church in Portland during the Fall of 2002. He was introduced by fellow Maine writer Cathie Pelletier. McNair has a long-standing relationship with the Council. He has led workshops for Maine teachers about using poetry in the classroom, designed a poetry series for the Let’s Talk About It program, and granted an interview for our Fall 2001 newsletter.

Whether you saw the reading live or heard it for the first time on the podcast, please leave a comment below to let us know what you thought.

Have you attended other Council events that you'd like to see on this podcast? Feel free to post suggestions! We might be able to locate recordings in our archives.

Richard Russo

Richard Russo retired early from Colby College in order to write full-time. He has set several novels in New York and Pennsylvania, but given his fascination with decaying towns and their struggling inhabitants, he was bound to write of a Maine mill town sooner or later. Empire Falls (Knopf, 2001) won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. It was followed by The Whore’s Child and Other Stories (Knopf, 2002).

This interview with Richard Russo by Charlotte Albright was included on the Council’s 30th Anniversary CD, ‘Maine Writers Speak.’

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