History Mystery Book Club

LabelInformation
  Dates & times
  • Thu, 01/25/2024 - 7:00pm
  Category Book Club
  Age Groups Adult

 

Historical Fiction book discussion group, meets quarterly

History Mystery Book Club, Wright Memorial Public Library (logo) Start time: 7:00 PM – Duration: 1 hour

Location: Wright Library’s Aberdeen Room (unless otherwise noted below)

This book discussion club focuses on nonfiction titles that feature unexplained events and mysteries that have occurred throughout history.

Extra copies of the upcoming book will be available for checkout at the Main Level Information Desk.

2024 titles: 


July: Covered with Night

Discussion on Thursday, July 18

About the Book

Covered with night : a story of murder and indigenous justice in early America
by Nicole Eustace Covered with night book by Nicole Eustace

In the winter of 1722, on the eve of a major conference between the Five Nations of the Haudenosaunee (also known as the Iroquois) and Anglo-American colonists, a pair of colonial fur traders brutally assaulted a Seneca hunter near Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Though virtually forgotten today, the crime ignited a contest between Native American forms of justice—rooted in community, forgiveness, and reparations—and the colonial ideology of harsh reprisal that called for the accused killers to be executed if found guilty. In Covered with Night, historian Nicole Eustace reconstructs the attack and its aftermath, introducing a group of unforgettable individuals—from the slain man’s resilient widow to an Indigenous diplomat known as “Captain Civility” to the scheming governor of Pennsylvania—as she narrates a remarkable series of criminal investigations and cross-cultural negotiations. Taking its title from a Haudenosaunee metaphor for mourning, Covered with Night ultimately urges us to consider Indigenous approaches to grief and condolence, rupture and repair, as we seek new avenues of justice in our own era.

  • Winner - 2022 Pulitzer Prize in History
  • Winner - Francis Parkman Prize (Society of American Historians)
  • Finalist - National Book Award for Nonfiction
  • Best Books of the Year - TIME, Smithsonian, Boston Globe, Kirkus Reviews

Next Meeting

To Be Determined