The Community Library

July 23, 2014

Join Lee Pollock, Executive Director of the Churchill Centre, in this fascinating exploration of the human side of the great man, Winston Spencer Churchill.

Beyond his stature as a world statesman, Churchill is almost as well known for his love for—and consumption of—food and wine and for his ubiquitous cigars. Stories—often humorous and sometimes exaggerated—about his indulgence have been told and retold for almost a century.

But Churchill’s eating, drinking and smoking served a larger purpose and played an important role in his mastery of politics, diplomacy and statecraft. His belief in the power of the table and personal relationships was summarized in his comment, “If I could have dinner with Stalin once a week, all would be well.”

Bon Appétit!

Professor Daniel Schwarz discusses his book Endtimes? a groundbreaking study of ten difficult years in the life of America’s most important newspaper, The New York Times.

Daniel R. Schwarz describes the transformation of the Times as it has confronted not only its various scandals and embarrassments but also the rapid rise of the internet and blogosphere, the ensuing decline in circulation and print advertising, and the change in what contemporary readers want and how they want to get it.

Writing as a skeptical outsider and devoted lifelong reader, Schwarz concludes that the Times is the worst newspaper in the world—except for all the others. Endtimes? is a must-read for Times readers as well as anyone interested in the radical change in print andbroadcast media in the rapidly evolving Internet Age.

Daniel Schwarz is the Frederick J. Whiton Professor of English Literature and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow at Cornell University where he has taught since 1968.