<Crystal Lake>, IL – September 6, 2022 – Celebrated author, speaker, and cultural anthropologist, Rich Benjamin, joins Raue Center on October 14, 2022, at 7 pm for “The Divided States of America: Big National Transformations, Small Towns” a special presentation and moderated Q&A discussing his personal experiences engaging with communities in small-town America and his deft observations of modern society, culture, and politics with a goal toward building understanding and openness.
” It’s important for us to have honest conversations on Race,” Raue Center’s executive director, Richard Kuranda. “It helps us move forward. Over the last 5 years, we have opened our eyes to the power of a community wanting to confront the ugly truth that racism does exist here. Hopefully, this discussion will help further that conversation in McHenry County.”
Rich Benjamin is a political analyst, a cultural anthropologist, a speaker, an author. Benjamin’s cultural and political analysis appears regularly in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, The New York Times Sunday Book Review, and National Public Radio (NPR). His scholarly research has received support from Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, Brown University, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Benjamin was recently a Fellow in the literary arts at the Bellagio Center (Italia), Rockefeller Foundation. Rich has a BA in English and political science from Wesleyan University and a Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University. He sits on the Board of Trustees of the Authors Guild, the national union of writers that has been protecting authors’ rights and free speech since 1912.
He is the author of “Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America” selected as an Editor’s Choice by Booklist and The American Library Association (2009). This groundbreaking study is one of few to have illuminated in advance the rise of white anxiety and white nationalism in contemporary public US life. Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed, calls Searching for Whitopia, “A daring feat of the 21st Century exploration that will have you laughing and shuddering at the same time.” The book is now in its second printing. He is currently at work on a new book, Talk to Me.
“I believe that adaptation requires openness. It requires a willingness to understand others, a willingness to understand oneself. And I believe in that willingness comes an openness to change.” – Rich Benjamin
Don’t miss this timely discussion, “The Divided States of America: Big National Transformations, Small Towns,” with one of America’s finest scholars. Moderated by James Knight. Tickets are $20. Student discount is available. For tickets or more information visit rauecenter.org or call Raue Box Office at 815.356.9212.
About Raue Center For The Arts
Raue Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching the lives of all through the arts. For 20 years, they have provided quality programming – striving to make it pertinent, available, and affordable to all. As a painstakingly restored, 1920s regional showcase theatre named for its benefactor—Lucile Raue—Raue Center has attracted the finest stars, Broadway shows, musicians and artists. Named on the League of Historic American Theatres, Raue Center is one of the nation’s finest examples of restored art and decor. The 750-seat theatre, located in historic downtown Crystal Lake, Illinois, is a gathering place for our region’s citizens and has become a true destination.
For additional information, visit rauecenter.org, facebook.com/RaueCenter, and twitter.com/RaueCenter.
