6:30 pm

Elebash Recital Hall, The Graduate Center, CUNY (365 Fifth Ave., at 34th St.)

In his new book Why Not Say What Happened, renowned cultural historian Morris Dickstein focuses on a subject close to home—his life and times. The memoir traces Dickstein’s path from a Jewish youth on the Lower East Side, to the halls of the Ivy League and Cambridge, through NYC’s post-war years of political, social, and artistic upheaval. Dickstein, Distinguished Professor of English at the Graduate Center, speaks with Gary Giddins about this “acutely observed, slyly funny memoir” (Molly Haskell). Dickstein’s celebrated works include Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression and Mirror in the Roadway: Literature and the Real World. Giddins, Executive Director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography, is the acclaimed author of Visions of Jazz, biographies of Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and Bing Crosby, and many other books. Co-sponsored by Public Programs and the Center for the Humanities.

Free and open to the public. RSVP here: https://community.gc.cuny.edu/coming_of_age_in_midcentury_america