Friends of SaddleBrooke Libraries

Upcoming FSL author lectures

The Friends of SaddleBrooke Libraries 2017 author lecture series continues with several exciting events coming this spring.

Many SaddleBrooke residents are familiar with Mark Schwartz and his unique expertise regarding military history. On March 16 Mark’s lecture will be about Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Japan’s premier naval strategist, who wanted to avoid war with America. The Samurai’s Peace will explore how Yamamoto tried to convince his countrymen to negotiate a peace before America destroyed Japan. Yamamoto’s death in a targeted airstrike put an end to those efforts.

The lecture starts at 4:00 p.m. in the MountainView Ballroom. There will be a $5 fee for non FSL members.

On April 20, Carol Niethammer will present America’s Native American Women: The Ordinary and the Extraordinary. Carolyn grew up in Prescott where she fell in love with the Southwest. Among her ten published books are three about Native American Indian women. Daughters of the Earth is a survey of Native Americans across North America, how women in various tribes came of age, got married, raised their children and played roles in economics, warfare and religion. I’ll Go and Do More is a biography of Annie Dodge Wanueka, a Navajo woman who worked for decades to improve the health of her people.

The lecture will start at 4:00 p.m. in the MountainView Ballroom. There will be a $5 charge for non FSL members.

Eric Berg will speak on May 18. The subject, Ghost Towns of the Second World War. Arizona’s Military Sites. When America entered WWII, Arizona’s sparse population and mild weather made it an ideal location for training facilities and POW camps. By the end of the war, Arizona had trained more pilots than any other state, hosted the country’s largest POW camp and was part of the largest military training grounds in history.

Eric Berg was raised in Flagstaff and is an award winning historian and writer with special interest in the 20th century Southwest. Berg was a guest lecturer last year when he told the story of The Eagle and the Archaeologists.

The lecture will start at 4:00 p.m. in the MountainView Ballroom. There will be no charge for this lecture.