Speaker Series: Denise Kiernan In Conversation with Karen Abbott

Event Details

Please join the Library Society in welcoming two New York Times bestselling authors Denise Kiernan and Karen Abbott, for an evening of discussion on Kiernan's book, "We Gather Together: A Nation Divided, a President in Turmoil, and a Historic Campaign to Embrace Gratitude and Grace". Tickets are $10 for CLS members and $15 for nonmembers. Tickets can be purchased with the link provided or by calling 843-723-9912.

Please Note: We are continuing to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and greatly value the safety of our patrons. All events require masks for entry and are subject to change from in-person to Zoom format if safety protocols need to be amended. To stay up to date on this event's details, we recommend you check this page regularly. All ticket sales are final.

About the Book:
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Castle and The Girls of Atomic City, We Gather Together ushers in a new way to look at American history through the story of giving thanks.

From Ancient Rome through 21st-century America, bestselling author Denise Kiernan brings us a biography of an idea: gratitude, as a compelling human instinct and a global concept, more than just a mere holiday. Spanning centuries, We Gather Together is anchored amid the strife of the Civil War, and driven by the fascinating story of Sarah Josepha Hale, a widowed mother with no formal schooling who became one of the 19th century's most influential tastemakers and who campaigned for decades to make real an annual day of thanks.

Illuminating, wildly discussable, part myth-busting, part call to action, We Gather Together is full of unexpected delights and uneasy truths. The stories of indigenous peoples, immigrant communities, women's rights activists, abolitionists, and more, will inspire readers to rethink and reclaim what it means to give thanks in this day and age. The book's message of gratitude - especially when embraced during the hardest of times - makes it one to read and share, over and over, at any time of year.

About Denise Kiernan:
Denise Kiernan is an author, journalist and producer. Her latest book, We Gather Together, arrived winter 2020. Her last book, The Last Castle (Sept., 2017), was an instant New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback and was also a Wall Street Journal bestseller. She is also the author of The Girls of Atomic City, which is a New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and NPR bestseller and has been published in multiple languages. She lives in North Carolina.

About Karen Abbott:
Karen Abbott is the New York Times bestselling author of Sin In The Second City, American Rose, and Liar Temptress Soldier Spy, named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, and Amazon. She has written for the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, and other publications, and has appeared on the History Channel, CBS Sunday Morning, AMC's "Making of the Mob," the Travel Channel's "Monumental Mysteries," and the Discovery Channel. Her new book, The Ghosts of Eden Park, is an instant New York Times bestseller, an Edgar Award finalist for best fact crime, an Indie Next pick, an Amazon best book of 2019, and a Smithsonian Magazine top ten history book of 2019.