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Fight of the Century: 100 Years of ACLU Cases

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Date and time
Thursday, February 13, 2020

Authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman join Carol Rose, executive director of ACLU Massachusetss, to discuss their compliation of essays,"Fight of the Century", featuring works by influential writers including Jennifer Egan, Neil Gaiman, Marlon James, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Salman Rushdie, Jesmyn Ward, and more, each writing about a landmark ACLU case. In response to the ["Palmer Raids"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Raids), part of the Red Scare in the U.S. after World War I when many were arrested without warrants and immigrants were targeted without regard to constitutional protections, a small group opposed to the actions formed the [American Civil Liberties Union](https://www.aclu.org/about/aclu-history). In May, 1920, they published their "Report Upon the Illegal Practices of the United States Department of Justice". This 2020 book of essays is published in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the organization.

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Michael Chabon is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist and short story writer. He is the bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, A Model World, Wonder Boys, Werewolves in their Youth, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Summerland, The Final Solution, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Maps & Legends, Gentlemen of the Road, Telegraph Avenue, Moonglow, and the picture book The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man. Chabon lives in Berkeley, California with his wife, the novelist Ayelet Waldman, and their children.
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Ayelet Waldman is the author of _A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life_, the novels _Love and Treasure, Red Hook Road, Love__ and Other Impossible Pursuits_, and _Daughter's Keeper_, as well as of the essay collection _Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace_ and the _Mommy-Track Mystery_ series. She is the editor of _Inside This Place_, _Not of It: Narratives from Women's Prisons_ and of the forthcoming _Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation_. She was a Federal public defender and an adjunct professor at the UC Berkeley law school where she developed and taught a course on the legal implications of the War on Drugs. She lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband, Michael Chabon, and their four children.
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Carol Rose is the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. A lawyer and journalist, Carol has spent her career working for and writing about human rights and civil liberties, both in the United States and abroad including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Japan, Sri Lanka, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Northern Ireland, and Vietnam. Prior to assuming her position at the helm of the Massachusetts ACLU in January 2003, she was an attorney at the Boston law firm of Hill & Barlow, where she specialized in First Amendment and media law, intellectual property, civil rights, and international human rights law. While in private practice, Carol had the honor of serving as co-chair of Women in Communications Law of the ABA Forum on Communications Law, as a Vice Chair of the Human Rights committee of the ABA Individual Rights and Responsibilities section, and on the editorial board of the ABAs *Human Rights* magazine.
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