Mill Town, in conversation with Down East Magazine editor in chief, Brian Kevin — Kerri Arsenault

Tuesday, August 25th, 2020, 7pm EDT, online only. Registration required: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/114190809786

This event was recorded and can be watched on our Youtube page here: https://youtu.be/fG62Td6j4_g

Author Kerri Arsenault visits Gibson's Bookstore virtually, in conversation with Down East Magazine editor in chief Brian Kevin, to discuss her new book, Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains.

A galvanizing and powerful debut, Mill Town is an American story, a human predicament, and a moral wake-up call that asks: what are we willing to tolerate and whose lives are we willing to sacrifice for our own survival?

Kerri Arsenault grew up in the rural working class town of Mexico, Maine. For over 100 years the community orbited around a paper mill that employs most townspeople, including three generations of Arsenault’s own family. Years after she moved away, Arsenault realized the price she paid for her seemingly secure childhood. The mill, while providing livelihoods for nearly everyone, also contributed to the destruction of the environment and the decline of the town’s economic, physical, and emotional health in a slow-moving catastrophe, earning the area the nickname “Cancer Valley.”

Mill Town is an personal investigation, where Arsenault sifts through historical archives and scientific reports, talks to family and neighbors, and examines her own childhood to illuminate the rise and collapse of the working-class, the hazards of loving and leaving home, and the ambiguous nature of toxics and disease. Mill Town is a moral wake-up call that asks, Whose lives are we willing to sacrifice for our own survival?

Event date: 
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 - 7:00pm
Event address: 
45 South Main St
Concord, NH 03301
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Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains By Kerri Arsenault Cover Image
$27.99
Likely available, but must be ordered by email/phone
ISBN: 9781250155931
Published: St. Martin's Press - September 1st, 2020

Winner of the 2021 Rachel Carson Environmental Book Award
Winner of the 2021 Maine Literary Award for Nonfiction
Finalist for the 2020 National Book Critics John Leonard Prize for Best First Book
Finalist for the 2021 New England Society Book Award

Finalist for the 2021 New England Independent Booksellers Association Award


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