Book Club

The Historical Society of Haddonfield’s Book Club will meet on Tuesday November 19 to discuss American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic, by Victoria Johnson.

We’ll meet at 7 pm at Greenfield Hall, 343 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield.

David Hosack is today best known as the doctor present at the duel of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, but he was also a noted botanist, scientist, and medical researcher who oversaw the first public botanical garden in the new Republic.

Victoria Johnson’s engaging biography of Hosack was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in History, as well as a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award in Nonfiction. The Library Journal describes the work as “a brilliant evocation of a man and his time.”

As always, all are welcome at our discussion, even if you haven’t read the book.

UPDATE: We’ll be holding this discussion on Tuesday September 24 at the Historical Society of Haddonfield instead of the Haddonfield Public Library.

The Historical Society Book Club’s summer book selection is Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, by David Blight. We will meet to discuss the book on Tuesday September 24 at 7 pm at Greenfield Hall, 343 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield.

After escaping from slavery as a young man, Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) became a prominent leader in the abolitionist movement. He was also an advocate for women’s suffrage, and eventually served as the U.S. ambassador to Haiti, among many other accomplishments.

David Blight’s engaging biography of Douglass won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in History. The Wall Street Journal describes it as “a brilliant book that speaks to our own time as well as Douglass’s.”

As always, all are welcome at the discussion, even if you haven’t read the book.

The Historical Society Book Club’s next meeting will be Tuesday June 4 at 7 pm at Greenfield Hall, 343 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield. We’ll be discussing Tasting Freedom: Octavius Catto and the Battle for Equality in Civil War America, by Daniel Biddle and Murray Dubin.

(You may recall that the Historical Society welcomed Biddle and Dubin for a general membership meeting presentation about Catto in September 2018.)

An educator in Philadelphia, Catto’s accomplishments included leading a successful effort to desegregate streetcars and to have Pennsylvania ratify the 15th Amendment, which granted black men the right to participate in elections. He was murdered in 1871 by a member of a white mob while on his way to vote.

The Philadelphia Inquirer called the book “a marvelous historical feast,” while historian Eric Foner said, “This dramatic book not only rescues the intrepid Octavius Catto from obscurity but reminds us that this struggle—and the violent opposition to it—long predated the modern civil rights era.”

As always, all our welcome at the discussion, even if you haven’t read the book. Light refreshments will be served.

Looking further ahead, the Book Club’s summer book selection will be Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, by David Blight. This is a joint book club selection with the Haddonfield Public Library, and the discussion will be held Monday September 23 at 7 pm at the public library, 60 N. Haddon Avenue, Haddonfield.

The Historical Society’s Book Club has rescheduled its upcoming discussion of Rush: Revolution, Madness and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father, so that we can attend author Stephen Fried’s scheduled talk at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia on April 16.

(Learn more about the Museum of the American Revolution’s April 16 “History After Hours” event here. Admission for that event is $10, or free if you’re a member of the Museum.)

Our Book Club will meet to discuss Rush a week later, on Tuesday April 23 at 7 pm. We’ll still meet at Greenfield Hall, 343 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield. And as always, all are welcome, even if you haven’t read the book.