John J. Miller, U-M graduate and author of "The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football," will discuss his new book, the history of college football and the social changes in America that made college football popular. This event includes a book signing and books will be on sale.In this fascinating new book, Miller delivers the intriguing, never-before-told story of how Theodore Roosevelt saved American Football--a game that would become the nation's most popular sport.

Panelists John and Leni Sinclair, Pun Plamondon, David Fenton, and Genie Parker--all members of Ann Arbor's White Panthers and Rainbow People's Party--participate in this panel discussion which is part of the of 'Freeing John Sinclair: The Day Legends Came to Town,' a series of events celebrating the launch of AADL's Freeing John Sinclair website (available at aadl.org beginning on Friday, December 9), marking the 40th anniversary of the John Sinclair Freedom Rally that took place in Ann Arbor on December 10, 1971. These five panelists were central to many of the actions and ideals surrounding Ann Arbor's late-1960s counter-culture. For this event, they'll reflect on what they called their "total assault on culture" during the late 1960s and early 1970s - what worked, what didn't, and what it means today.The panel will be moderated by Professor Bruce Conforth of the University of Michigan Program in of American Culture. This special event will be held in Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union, 530 S. State Street on the UM Campus.

Join us to view this acclaimed film - - the powerful harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever - and stay for the post film discussion led by Civil Rights Leader Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr. - who was a Freedom Rider.In 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives--and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment--for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South.

AADL is proud to host Professor Sylvia Nasar - economist, journalist and the author of "A Beautiful Mind," the mega-bestseller that inspired the Academy Award-winning film starring Russell Crowe.

Join in the celebration as AADL unveils Old News, a new, online product (available at aadl.org after this event) devoted to the digitization of newspapers from Ann Arbor's past.

Taking a true story of a murder in her own Michigan family, author Becky Thacker has crafted a page-turning mystery novel! "Faithful Unto Death" provides a window into the daily lives of small-town Michiganders at the turn of the century, wrapped up in a riveting whodunit.... Why was the pious daughter of missionaries suddenly stricken with a mysterious and fatal ailment - was it an illness -- or suicide -- or MURDER?!

Benjamin Franklin was a remarkable American, and strongly believed in free expression and a free press, but what kind of world did he live in? This lecture explores what it was like to live in eighteenth-century America. Franklin's Boston, Philadelphia, and London were alive with divisive controversies, racial strife, and constant international tension. But it was also a time of new media, new ideas, and the creation of the American self. Learn what lessons Ben Franklin's America has for us at the dawn of the millennium.John G.

Cleveland Confidential Book Tour features three author-musicians who hail from Cleveland but whose influence is without boundaries. Cheetah Chrome (Rocket From The Tombs, Dead Boys), Mike Hudson (The Pagans) and Bob Pfeifer (Human Switchboard, Tabby Chinos)will read excerpts from their books, answer questions and discuss their careers. A book signing will follow and books will be on sale. Cheetah Chrome is best known as guitarist/founding member of both Rocket From The Tombs and Dead Boys. As a songwriter his work has been covered by artists such as Guns n Roses, Pearl Jam and the Beastie Boys. He still performs and records with Rocket From The Tombs, as well as Batusis (with Sylvain Sylvain). His new book "Cheetah Chrome - A Dead Boy's Tale From The Front Lines Of Punk Rock" is the no-holds-barred autobiography - a tale of success and excess--amazing music, legendary antics, epic drug use, and eventual resurrection--that only a true rock and roller could deliver.Mike Hudson founded the American punk rock group the Pagans in 1977. His work has appeared in Hustler, the Associated Press, Master Detective, Field & Stream and many other publications. He is currently the founding editor and CEO of the Niagara Falls Reporter, a New York tabloid specializing in politics and organized crime. "Diary of A Punk," his autobiography, is a classic rock and roll memoir that dishes the inside dope on the groundbreaking American punk rock movement and many of its top stars.Bob Pfeifer was a founding member and primary songwriter for the critically acclaimed band, Human Switchboard. He went on to be Senior Vice President A&R / Epic Records and President of Hollywood Records (The Walt Disney Company). He is responsible for the sale of 50 Million albums having worked with Alice Cooper, Joe Satriani, Ornette Coleman, The Screaming Trees, Elton John, among many others, and soundtracks like the Crow: City of Angels and Lion King. Bob's novel, "University of Strangers," has as its center a sensational case - that of American student Amanda Knox and the brutal murder of her roommate. A unique blend of fact and fiction, it is a spellbinding account of the violence, corruption and celebrity worship that characterize much of 21st century life.

When you grow up hating Germany because your parents are Holocaust survivors, what happens when you're invited to speak there about your books? Lev Raphael haunted by his parents' suffering and traumatic losses under Nazi rule, was certain that Germany was one place in the world he would never visit. Those feelings shaped his Jewish and gay identity, his life, and his career. Then the barriers of a lifetime began to come down, as revealed in this moving memoir "My Germany." While researching his mother's war years, Raphael found a distant relative living in the very city where she had been a slave laborer. What would he learn if he actually traveled to the place where his mother had found freedom and met his father? Not long after that epochal trip, a German publisher bought several of his books for translation. Raphael was launched on book tours in Germany, discovering not so much a new Germany, but a new self: someone unafraid to face the past and transcend it. Lev Raphael is a pioneer in writing fiction about America's Second Generation, publishing his first short story about children of survivors in 1978. Many of his early stories on this theme were collected in his award-winning book, "Dancing on Tisha B'Av," while the best of those appear in his second collection "Secret Anniversaries of the Heart." He is the author of 17 other books including two novels about survivors, "Winter Eyes" and "The German Money," two memoirs, "Journeys & Arrivals" and "Writing a Jewish Life" and dozens of essays, articles, and stories in a wide range of publications

Nationally-known culinary historian Andrew F. Smith will make a special appearance to discuss his two new books, "Starving the South: How the North Won the Civil War" and "Potato: A Global History." This event, which will include a book signing, is cosponsored by the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor. Books will be on sale at the event.Andrew F. Smith has taught food history at the New School University in Manhattan since 1995. He is the author or editor of 19 books, including "The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America," and "The Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food" and has written more than 1000 articles, entries and papers on culinary topics. He is also the editor of the "Edible Series" published by Reaktion Books and has been regularly interviewed on radio and television, including National Public Radio, Discovery, the History Channel, and the Food Network.In "Starving the South: How the North Won the Civil War", he takes a fascinating gastronomical look at the war and its legacy. While the Civil War split the country in a way that affects race and politics to this day, it also affected the way we eat and drink. "Potato: A Global History" tells the captivating tale of an allegedly lowly vegetable that has changed - and continues to change - the world.