Books

Hear from the author of a revelatory memoir about a 330-mile walk from Washington, D.C., to New York City—an unforgettable pilgrimage to the heart of America across some of our oldest common ground.

Neil King Jr.’s desire to walk from Washington, D.C., to New York City began as a whim and soon became an obsession. By the spring of 2021, events had intervened that gave his desire greater urgency. His neighborhood still reeled from the January 6th insurrection. Covid lockdowns and a rancorous election had deepened America’s divides. Neil himself bore the imprints of a long battle with cancer.

Determined to rediscover what matters in life and to see our national story with new eyes, Neil turned north with a small satchel on his back and one mission in mind: To pay close attention to the land he crossed and the people he met.

What followed is an extraordinary 26-day journey through historic battlefields and cemeteries, over the Mason-Dixon line, past Quaker and Amish farms, along Valley Forge stream beds, atop a New Jersey trash mound, across New York Harbor, and finally, to his ultimate destination: the Ramble, where a tangle of pathways converges in Central Park. The journey travels deep into America’s past and present, uncovering forgotten pockets and overlooked people. At a time of mounting disunity, the trip reveals the profound power of our shared ground.

Following the discussion that will happen both in-person in the Rabb Lecture Hall of the Central Library in Copley Square and online over Zoom webinar, there will be time for an audience Q&A. At approximately 7:00 PM, there will be an author signing facilitated by Trident Booksellers and Cafe for in-person attendees. During the program, online attendees will be provided with a link to order copies of the book from Porter Square Books.


This program is part of the American Inspiration Series from American Ancestors/NEHGS and presented in partnership with with the Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library and the GBH Forum Network.

For 20 years Neil King Jr. traveled to more than 50 countries in all continents to write and report and poke around as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. During his years in Washington, DC, he served as chief diplomatic correspondent, national political reporter and, at the end, the Journal’s global economics editor. He now travels and writes on his own. He is the founder and editor of Gotham Canoe, an online journal dedicated to life out of doors. American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal is his first book. He lives with his wife in Washington DC.

James B. Conroy is an award-winning author and an honorary fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He worked on Capitol Hill as a Senate press secretary and a congressman’s chief of staff, and served for six years in the Naval Air Reserve. A graduate Georgetown University Law Center, he practiced law in Boston. His book Our One Common Country was a finalist for the prestigious Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize. Lincoln’s White House shared the Lincoln Prize and won the Abraham Lincoln Institute’s annual book award.

Charlotte Gray is the author of eleven acclaimed books of literary nonfiction including her recent bestseller The Promise of Canada. The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master, and the Trial That Shocked a Country won numerous prizes including the Toronto Book Award and the Heritage Toronto Book Award and was shortlisted for several others. An adaptation of her bestseller Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike was broadcast as a television miniseries. An adjunct research professor in the department of history at Carleton University, she is the recipient of the Pierre Berton Award for distinguished achievement in popularizing Canadian history, a Member of the Order of Canada, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Tech entrepreneur Paul English, who co-founded Kayak, and Joyce Linehan, former Chief of Policy for the City of Boston and member of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, have founded BannedBooksUSA.org, an online platform that allows Florida residents to order banned and restricted books for just the price of shipping.

If your love for Edgar Allan Poe has been gently rapping, rapping at your chamber door, just embrace it and watch Netflix's The Fall of the House of Usher because it is a hoot and a half.

The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom reported a hefty jump in attempts to restrict library materials.

NPR's Scott Simon asks "Jeopardy!" champion Amy Schneider about her new memoir, "In the Form of a Question."

We sit down with the co-host of "Pop Culture Happy Hour" to discuss her new book, "Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me."

Lily King is the award-winning author of five novels. Her most recent novel, Writers & Lovers, was published on March 3rd, 2020, and her first collection of short stories, Five Tuesdays in Winter, will be released on November 9, 2021. Her 2014 novel Euphoria won the Kirkus Award, The New England Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Award. Euphoria was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times Book Review. It was included in TIME's Top 10 Fiction Books of 2014, as well as on Amazon, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, and Salon’s Best Books of 2014.