In this episode of Library Talks, historian Nina Sankovitch discusses her new book Not Your Founding Father: How a Nonbinary Minister Became America's Most Radical Revolutionary.

In 1776 a 23-year-old woman named Jemima Wilkinson suffered a severe illness, declared her past self dead, and then rebranded as the Public Universal Friend, a genderless messenger of God. In a few short years the Friend preached across the Northeast and attracted a devoted band of followers known as the Society of Universal Friends.

In this episode of Library Talks, we explore the life of one of the most influential architects of the civil rights era Rev. James Lawson Jr. and discuss his new posthumous memoir Nonviolent: A Memoir of Resistance, Agitation, and Love

Rev. James Lawson Jr. spent his life fighting racial and economic injustice. A peer of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he taught and organized nonviolent direct action, guiding generations of civil rights activists. Drawing on decades of activism—from studying independence movements abroad to serving prison time for refusing the Korean War draft—Nonviolent illuminates the life of a man who fought oppression and advanced equality, dignity, and liberty.

Emily Yellin, Lawson's memoir collaborator, and his son, John Lawson, discuss his legacy with journalist Michelle Miller.

In this episode of Library Talks, Academy and BAFTA Award–winning filmmaker, Emerald Fennell, discusses her seductive interpretation of Wuthering Heights.

Wuthering Heights has been the subject of controversy since it was first published in 1847. One of its first critics derided the novel's "vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors," and another wrote, "How a human being could have attempted such a book…without committing suicide…is a mystery." Award-winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell is no stranger to unhinged tales of obsession and passion. She discusses approaching the depths and darkness of Brontë's work and how she made the film her own while honoring the novel it sprang from.