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LWV of Wilmette and WPL Book Group (Virtual)

Oak Flat by Lauren Redniss

This month, we will be discussing the Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West by Lauren Redniss.

This work of visual nonfiction tells the story of a race-against-time struggle for a swath of American land, which pits one of the poorest communities in the United States against the federal government and two of the world’s largest mining conglomerates. The book follows the fortunes of two families with profound connections to the contested site: the Nosies, an Apache family whose teenage daughter is an activist and leader in the Oak Flat fight, and the Gorhams, a mining family whose patriarch was a sheriff in the lawless early days of Arizona statehood. The still-unresolved Oak Flat conflict is ripped from today’s headlines, but its story resonates with foundational American themes: the saga of westward expansion, the resistance and resilience of Native peoples, and the efforts of profiteers to control the land and unearth treasure beneath it while the lives of individuals hang in the balance. (From the Publisher)

Find a copy of the book here. Ebook and audiobook copies are available through Digital Library of Illinois or the Libby app.

Registration will close two hours before the program begins and registrants will receive a link to join shortly thereafter.

Please email community@wilmettelibrary.info with any questions about how to access the program via Zoom.

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