Jane Jacobs’s First City presents a heretofore missing piece of the puzzle of renowned writer and social activist Jane Jacobs’s life by reconstructing her formative years in Scranton, Pennsylvania, when the city was at its prime.

Please join us for a presentation and conversation with the author, Glenna Lang, at Boston College’s Burns Library, which Jacobs chose as the official repository for her archives in 1995.

The conversation will be moderated by Richard Keeley, retired senior associate dean in Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. Keeley was instrumental in the Library’s acquisition of Jacobs’s papers. The event will begin at 7pm, and will be followed by a coffee/tea/dessert reception and book signing at 8pm. All are welcome.

Based on meticulous research and interviews of Jacobs’s family, friends, and fellow Scrantonians, Lang’s intimate and beautifully written portrait of Jacobs and her home city reveals for the first time the individuals, communities, and events that she encountered in her first eighteen years. Jacobs discovered what made for vibrant cities and economies as well as the values and principles that accompanied them. Towards the end of her life, Jacobs increasingly referred back to Scranton to illustrate the potential for cohesion and inclusiveness offered by contemporary mid-size cities.

Lang is the author of a previous work about Jane Jacobs—Genius of Common Sense: The Story of Jane Jacobs and “The Death and Life of Great American Cities.” She has lived for many years in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and teaches at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, now part of Tufts University.

Copies of Jane Jacobs’s First City will be available for purchase. A sampling of materials from Jacobs’s papers will be on display. Additional materials are featured in an online exhibit curated by Burns Library.

RSVPs by November 29 appreciated: https://bit.ly/glenna-lang-book-launch