10:15 a.m. - Annual meeting of the Mencken Society, followed by "Fourth-Estate Scolds: Mencken & Other Press Critics," presented by Dr. S. L. Harrison, author of Robert Benchley's Wayward Press (Wheeler Auditorium). Copies of Dr. Harrison's book will be on sale following his lecture.
2:30 p.m. - The 2008 Mencken Memorial Lecture: "Are Americans Getting the Presidential Campaign They Deserve?," presented by Susan Jacoby (Wheeler Auditorium)
Reception and book signing immediately following in the Poe Room
The Mencken Room located in the annex to the Central Library will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Susan Jacoby is the author of eight books, including THE AGE OF AMERICAN UNREASON and FREETHINKERS: A HISTORY OF AMERICAN SECULARISM. She is program director of the Center for Inquiry-New York City, a rationalist think tank, and a regular panelist for On Faith, a Web site sponsored by The Washington Post and Newsweek.
The Ivy Bookshop will be selling copies of Susan Jacoby's books at the reception following her lecture.
