Maura Tracy Healey is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 73rd governor of Massachusetts since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as Massachusetts Attorney General from 2015 to 2023 and was elected governor in 2022.

Suffolk University's Ford Hall Forum presents author Arlie Russell Hochschild, Ph.D., one of the most influential scholars of her generation upon the publication of her latest book, Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right in conversation with award-winning author James Carroll.

In her first book since the widely acclaimed Strangers in Their Own Land, National Book Award finalist and bestselling author Arlie Russell Hochschild now ventures to Appalachia, uncovering the “pride paradox” that has given the right’s appeals such resonance. For all the attempts to understand the state of American politics and the blue/red divide, we’ve ignored what economic and cultural loss can do to pride. What happens, Arlie Russell Hochschild asks, when a proud people in a hard-hit region suffer the deep loss of pride and are confronted with a powerful political appeal that makes it feel “stolen”?

Hochschild’s research drew her to Pikeville, Kentucky, in the heart of Appalachia, within the whitest and second-poorest congressional district in the nation, where the city was reeling: coal jobs had left, crushing poverty persisted, and a deadly drug crisis struck the region.

In Stolen Pride, Hochschild focuses on a group swept up in the shifting political landscape: blue-collar men. In small churches, hillside hollers, roadside diners, trailer parks, and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, Hochschild introduces us to unforgettable people, and offers an original lens through which to see them and the wider world. In Stolen Pride, Hochschild incisively explores our dangerous times, even as she also points a way forward.

Join The Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation for a Tech Talk about our new series of short animations on the history of the Boston Manufacturing Company, designed to educate and entertain audiences of all ages, with a particular focus on middle school students.

Waltham animator Macy Lawrence will discuss the research, design, and animation process, and the event will include a screening of the short films.

Macy Lawrence is an animator based in Waltham, Massachusetts. She is currently an Art Director for Cengage/National Geographic Learning. In 2024 she will complete a master’s degree in Digital Media Studies from Harvard University's Extension School.

Cambridge Forum is pleased to mark the 75^th anniversary of the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1949, with an in-depth discussion about George Orwell’s life, work and legacy.

Written at a time when Orwell was seriously ill, 1984 had a dubious beginning with few interested in publishing it, yet it went on to become a classic literary example of political and dystopian fiction. Its themes struck a chord with readers worldwide due to its focus on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance and repression, which have remained timeless. The novel, which was Orwell’s final book, examines the role of truth and facts within society and the ways in which they can be manipulated, hence the creation of the term “Orwellian”.

To help us understand the complex but brilliant mind of this great writer, we have two wonderful writers who are specialists on Orwell, Dorian Lynskey, author of The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Nathan Waddell, Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature at the University of Birmingham.

Nathan Waddell is Professor of Twentieth-Century Literature at the University of Birmingham, UK where he has written widely on George Orwell and produces the Reading Orwell podcast. He edited the The Cambridge Companion to Nineteen Eighty-Four, and has two books coming out in 2025, The Oxford Handbook of George Orwell and A Bright Cold Day: The Wonder of George Orwell.

Dorian Lynskey writes about politics and culture for numerous publications. He is author of The Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four which was longlisted for the Orwell and Baillie Gifford prizes. Lynskey’s latest book is Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World; he also hosts the podcasts Origin Story and Oh God, What Now?

Gideon Lichfield has been the editor-in-chief of WIRED and MIT Technology Review, one of the founding editors at Quartz, and a science writer and foreign correspondent at The Economist. Currently he writes Futurepolis, a newsletter devoted to the question of how to reinvent democracy for the 21st century.

Join the Charles River Museum for an inspiring look at the life and times of Major Taylor, one of the most consequential athletes in American sports history.

Taylor was racing on the national and international stage at a time when the U.S. was deeply segregated. He combatted both racial prejudice and systemic barriers to triumph as the 'world's fastest man'. The legendary African American cyclist and the Charles Metz Company of Waltham, MA., were deeply intertwined through the golden age of bicycle racing and innovation. Taylor raced on Metz's "Orient" bicycles, and his sprinting ability and speed on the lightweight Orient bikes brought him national fame during the rise of cycling as a competitive sport in America.

However, as the 20th century progressed, the bicycle industry began to decline, largely due to the rise of automobiles. Charles Metz himself shifted his focus from bicycles to cars, founding the Metz Company in 1909, marking the end of an era for Waltham's bicycle production. Still, Taylor's triumphs in the face of racial diversity remain a lasting legacy of both his own perserverance, and the innovations of the Waltham-based Metz Company.

Todd Balf writes for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and others, and is the author of several books including this summer’s “Three Kings” and “Major: A Black Athlete, a White Era, and the Fight to be the World’s Fastest Human Being.” He is an enthusiastic advocate for cycling and accessibility.