Hoosier Book Club Kick-Off

Please join us for the first Hoosier Book Club meeting at West Lafayette Public Library.

On Thursday, Jan. 26th, at 4:30, the Hoosier Book Club will host its call-out event in the Walnut Room.

The first book we will read and discuss is an Indiana classic, The Magnificent Ambersons, which was written by Purdue alumni Booth Tarkington in 1918.  The novel follows a fictitious Hoosier family through multiple generations.  Tarkington perfectly captures the historic tone of the Hoosier Golden Age (1870-1920).  The Ambersons, finding big economic success in one generation only to have it squandered and lost in the following one, are the quintessential model for Tarkington whereby he explores the change in social life in Indiana caused by the Industrial Revolution.  He uses the book to explore concepts such as intergenerational wealth, a evolving Hoosier economy, and the degradation of what he sees nostalgically as the way things were before.  The Magnificent Ambersons is a fascinating look back at a time in Indiana’s history when innovation expanded the horizon indefinitely while economic opportunity shrank it right back down in again.

This event requires registration.  You can register for this event for free by filling out this form.  Books will be provided to patrons for use.