The Community Library Lecture Room

“Hemingway’s Sun Valley: Local Stories Behind His Code, Characters, and Crisis” with Phil Huss

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Join The Community Library on Thursday, July 21 to celebrate the release of the new book, Hemingway’s Sun Valley: Local Stories Behind His Code, Characters, and Crisis by local author Phil Huss. Huss will share unpublished stories about Hemingway’s adventures in Idaho, and discuss principles of the author’s “Heroic Code.”

This event will be held outdoors on the Library lawn. **FACE MASKS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING ARE REQUIRED.** No reservations are needed, and space around the site will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 5:30. Books will be available for sale following the presentation. All books will be pre-signed to limit handling.

We are hoping to record this program if you are interested in watching from home at a later date. Thank you in advance to all attendees for following our requests to make this event possible!

In this new book, Huss delves into previously unpublished stories about Hemingway’s adventures in Idaho, with each chapter focusing on one principle of the author’s “Heroic Code.” Huss interweaves how both local Idaho stories and passages from the luminary’s works embody each principle. Readers will appreciate Hemingway’s affinity for Idaho and his passion for principles that all would do well to follow.

Huss writes, “It was a cold, ‘windless, blue sky day’ in the fall of 1939 near Silver Creek—a blue-ribbon trout stream south of Sun Valley. Ernest Hemingway flushed three mallards and got each duck with three pulls. He spent the morning working on his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. Local hunting guide Bud Burdy attested, ‘You could have given him a million dollars and he wouldn’t have been any happier.'” Some of Hemingway’s finest days were spent writing, hunting, and enjoying “the family” of locals of the Wood River Valley. Some of his most challenging days were spent here as well. In his talk, Phil Huss will take us back to the halcyon and harrowing days Hemingway spent in this valley.

Philip Huss is an independent school English teacher and writer from Hailey, Idaho. A teacher for 25 years, he has taught for twenty years at Sun Valley Community School. Phil teaches a course on Hemingway at SVCS and has published articles related to his research on Hemingway in Sun Valley Magazine and BigLife Magazine. He is a frequent speaker and discussion leader at the Ernest Hemingway Seminar held each September at The Community Library. At the Tugboat Institute in Ketchum, Phil has also presented to business leaders on how the Hemingway heroic code can serve as a platform for codifying core principles of a company. Phil graduated with a BA in English from Amherst College and a MA in English from Boston College.

Roundtable Conversation about Wallace Stegner

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Join The Community Library and guest Charles Wilkinson for a casual, hour-long afternoon conversation about Wallace Stegner, the man. Professor Wilkinson will share some personal stories from his friendship with Stegner, and we’ll have a broader conversation will all who join. W look forward to hearing your thoughts and questions.

 

Charles Wilkinson is the Moses Lasky Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Colorado. A graduate of Stanford Law School and an associate with Phoenix and San Francisco law firms, Wilkinson joined the Native American Rights Fund in 1971 as a staff attorney. Since 1975 he has taught at the Oregon and Colorado law schools, receiving many awards for teaching and research. He is the author of 14 books, including Crossing the Next Meridian: Land, Water, and the Future of the West (1992); The Eagle Bird: Mapping a New West (1992); Fire on the Plateau: Conquest and Endurance in the American Southwest (1999); Messages from Frank’s Landing: a Story of Salmon, Treaties, and the Indian Way (2000); and Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations (2005.) 

He has served on the boards of The Center of the American West; the Western Environmental Law Center, the Wilderness Society; and the Grand Canyon Trust. Over the years, Wilkinson has taken on many special assignments for the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, and Justice. He served as special counsel to the Interior Department for the drafting of the 1996 Presidential Proclamation establishing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. Wilkinson was also Special Advisor to the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition for the creation of the Bears Ears National Monument in 2016.

Wallace Stegner and “A Society To Match The Scenery” with Charles Wilkinson

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Wallace Stegner And The Effort—The Dream—To Create “A Society To Match The Scenery”

How Well Have We Done?

Starting roughly in the early 1970s, citizens of the American West began an earnest search to understand the history and peoples of the region and its possibilities, and, ultimately, to find ways to protect the magnificence of the landscape and preserve the slow-moving, community-oriented culture of the real West.

From the beginning, Ketchum was a significant locale for that kind of thinking. Many Westerners still aim for that.

In his first of two evening presentations, Professor Wilkinson will offer some thoughts on the progress of that effort and engage the audience in a discussion of how well the West of the 2020s fits with Stegner’s formulation.

This program will be LIVESTREAMED for virtual viewing.

Charles Wilkinson is the Moses Lasky Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Colorado. A graduate of Stanford Law School and an associate with Phoenix and San Francisco law firms, Wilkinson joined the Native American Rights Fund in 1971 as a staff attorney. Since 1975 he has taught at the Oregon and Colorado law schools, receiving many awards for teaching and research. He is the author of 14 books, including Crossing the Next Meridian: Land, Water, and the Future of the West (1992); The Eagle Bird: Mapping a New West (1992); Fire on the Plateau: Conquest and Endurance in the American Southwest (1999); Messages from Frank’s Landing: a Story of Salmon, Treaties, and the Indian Way (2000); and Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations (2005.) 

He has served on the boards of The Center of the American West; the Western Environmental Law Center, the Wilderness Society; and the Grand Canyon Trust. Over the years, Wilkinson has taken on many special assignments for the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, and Justice. He served as special counsel to the Interior Department for the drafting of the 1996 Presidential Proclamation establishing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. Wilkinson was also Special Advisor to the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition for the creation of the Bears Ears National Monument in 2016.

“Bears Ears: Creation of the First Native National Monument” with Charles Wilkinson

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“At Bears Ears We Can Hear The Voices Of Our Ancestors In Every Canyon And On Every Mesa Top”

The Creation Of The First Native National Monument

On December 8, 2016, President Barack Obama announced the designation of Bears Ears National Monument. At 1.35 million acres of public land in Utah, it was the second-largest national monument in the contiguous states. Bears Ears is glory country, a Southwest terrain of canyons, mesas, mountains, red rock formations, and long vistas. Wallace Stegner wrote that the Bears Ears landscape “fills up the eye and overflows the soul.” The area holds, and has always held, profound cultural significance for the Native peoples who live in the area

This is the first national monument ever brought forth by Indian people. They organized a grassroots coalition of five tribes—the Hopi, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Northern Ute, and Zuni—that took the lead in advocating for the monument with the Obama administration. The tribes were backed up by conservation groups, the outdoors industry, scientific organizations, and countless citizens. Importantly, the proclamation provides, for the first time ever, that a major federal landholding will be collaboratively managed, by the five tribes and the Forest Service, BLM, and Park Service.

In 2017, President Trump attempted, by proclamation, to eviscerate the monument by eliminating 85% of the Obama monument. The matter is in litigation, where the tribes seem to have the better position. A ruling by the Federal District Court of Washington, DC on the legality of the Trump order is expected soon.

This program will be LIVESTREAMED for virtual viewing.

Join us for this second evening of presentations with Professor Charles Wilkinson, Moses Lasky Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Colorado. A graduate of Stanford Law School and an associate with Phoenix and San Francisco law firms, Wilkinson joined the Native American Rights Fund in 1971 as a staff attorney. Since 1975 he has taught at the Oregon and Colorado law schools, receiving many awards for teaching and research. He is the author of 14 books, including Crossing the Next Meridian: Land, Water, and the Future of the West (1992); The Eagle Bird: Mapping a New West (1992); Fire on the Plateau: Conquest and Endurance in the American Southwest (1999); Messages from Frank’s Landing: a Story of Salmon, Treaties, and the Indian Way (2000); and Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations (2005.) 

He has served on the boards of The Center of the American West; the Western Environmental Law Center, the Wilderness Society; and the Grand Canyon Trust. Over the years, Wilkinson has taken on many special assignments for the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, and Justice. He served as special counsel to the Interior Department for the drafting of the 1996 Presidential Proclamation establishing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. Wilkinson was also Special Advisor to the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition for the creation of the Bears Ears National Monument in 2016.

Photo Credit: Bob Wick, BLM

“Churchill, Race and Empire: Fact and Fiction” with Lee Pollock

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August 12, 2020

Watch the Recording

More than a half-century after his death and eighty years since his “finest hour”, Winston Churchill remains an icon of modern times, admired for his determination and resilience leading Britain and the free world in the greatest conflict the world has ever seen.

Churchill created history but also chronicled it, believing it would be kind to him. He carefully laid the groundwork for the Churchill legend, most notably in his Nobel prize-winning history of the second world war, in which he played the leading role. To Churchill, “the longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.”

Steeped as he was in the past, Churchill would not have been surprised that future generations might interpret his role in history in different and challenging ways.  Today, he is accused of transgressions from suppressing workers in England and revolutionaries in Ireland to neglecting or even causing a sweeping famine in India.  His views on race and empire, often expressed in moments of passion recorded by his contemporaries, are used to condemn him a racist and white supremacist.  By the definition of some, he is no longer worthy of commemoration and the recent defacing of his statue in London has become a powerful expression of that.

So what is fact and what is fiction in the differing portrayals of someone whose admirers still call the “Great Man”? Where does Churchill stand at a time when the world is increasingly focused on issues of race, identity, and equality? Is there much we can still learn from him or is he no longer relevant for our post-modern world?

Join acclaimed Churchill speaker and popular Community Library presenter Lee Pollock as he explores these vital questions in an insightful and fascinating presentation.

Lee Pollock is a popular writer, historian and public speaker on the life and times of Sir Winston Churchill and a regular presenter at The Community Library. He serves as a Trustee and Advisor to the Board of The International Churchill Society and was the Society’s long-time Executive Director. He also served as Publisher of the Society’s Journal, “Finest Hour,” and led the development of the National Churchill Library and Center in Washington, DC. A native of Montreal, Canada, Lee is a graduate of McGill University and hold’s a master’s degree from The University of Chicago.  He is a frequent editorial writer on Churchill topics for The Wall Street Journal, The New Criterion and other publications.  He is the author of Action This Day: Adventures with Winston Churchill.

The Bitter and Sweet Exhibit Reception

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Before Jamie Ford’s Winter Ready closing keynote presentation, join us for a celebratory reception in the Library Foyer around the exhibit, The Bitter and Sweet: World War II Stories of Japanese Americans in the West.
 
The exhibit shares potent images and possessions from families who directly experienced incarceration because of their Japanese heritage and where they lived. It also tells the story of families who lived outside of the exclusion zone of the West Coast, but felt anti-Asian suspicion and bravely answered the call to armed services.

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