“Woven with journalistic rigor and lyrical wonder, this is a timely and beautiful book.” So says the legendary Ken Burns about Original City, Original Sin: King, the Klan, and the Fight for Civil Rights in St. Augustine, Florida the new book by local author Martin Dobrow.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is the metaphorical “sun” of this book that is set in the nation’s oldest city during the height of his fame and the peak of the civil rights movement in 1963-64. But the focus of Original City is really on the planets that orbit around him: a remarkable crew of little-known activists—Black and white, young and old, gay and straight—who put their lives on the line for a cause much larger than themselves. Dobrow will share some of the stories of these extraordinary individuals, some of whom lived in Western Massachusetts. He will show how their courage can serve as an example to people today about how to do the hard work of bending the arc of the moral universe back toward justice.

The reading/discussion is followed by a book signing.