Read along in the Museum’s summer book club that includes both the new and noteworthy and Concord classics.  Whether you are on the beach, a mountain, or your sofa members can join us virtually for monthly reads, discussions, and themed cocktails all summer long.  Book club meetings will be held remotely over Zoom.  The Zoom link will be sent to registrants.

The July book club read is James McBride’s 2013 National Book Award Winner The Good Lord Bird.  A highly entertaining portrait of life on the Kansas-territory with John Brown and his army of abolitionists, Henry Shackleford, a formerly enslaved child sweeps us up in the action as he is taken under John Brown’s wing – who believes Henry is a girl, his good luck charm, and nicknames Little Onion.

Militant abolitionist John Brown visited Concord at the behest of the Concord Female Anti-Slavery Society in March 1857 where he dined at Mrs. Thoreau’s table and discussed the “fights and escapes in Kansas” in her parlor with Henry David Thoreau.  The next evening, Brown addressed a crowd at the Concord Town Hall who was held spellbound by his accounts of Kansas (despite only contributing a trifle towards his financial goal), before a reception in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s home where he was invited to spend the night.  Though only a brief visit in Concord, Brown left an impression on the leading abolitionists and Transcendentalists of the community.  His radical activism continues to resonate with us today and comes alive in James McBride’s novel with a captivating mix of history and imagination.

For members of the Concord Museum.  Become a member to participate!