In this episode of Library Talks, American historian Jill Lepore joins Library Talks to discuss her latest book We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution. She is joined by constitutional law expert Jamal Greene.

On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, Jill Lepore’s We the People reexamines this foundational text not as a static artifact but as a living document shaped—and often stalled—by the will of the people. Drawing on research from the Amendments Project—a searchable archive of all the proposed amendments to the Constitution from 1789 to the present—Lepore traces more than two centuries of attempts, mostly by ordinary Americans, to amend a document designed both to resist change and to permit it through peaceful, democratic means.

In this episode of Library Talks, multidisciplinary artist and theologian, Tricia Hersey joins Library Talks to discuss her latest book We Will Rest!: The Art of Escape. She is joined by Glory Edim, author of Well Read Black Girl.

Tricia Hersey is the founder of The Nap Ministry. She is the global pioneer and originator of the “rest as resistance” and “rest as reparations” frameworks, and collaborates with communities all over the world to create sacred spaces. This talk was recorded as part of the Schomburg Centennial Festival.

In this episode of Library Talks, Author and editor Lauren O’Neill-Butler joins Library Talks to discuss her latest book, The War of Art: A History of Artists' Protest in America.

The War of Art tells the history of artist-led activism and the global political and aesthetic debates of the 1960s to the present. In contrast to the financialized art market and celebrity artists, the book explores the power of collective effort — from protesting to philanthropy, and from wheat pasting to planting a field of wheat.