2011 Winter Lecture Series Held at Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum

March roars in like a lion at Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum with its annual Winter Lecture Series, this year focusing on Brides, Bohemians, and Booze: Historical Perspectives. The Thursday evening talks all take place at 7 p.m. in the mansion's glorious Greek Revival double parlor and are followed by an author meet-and-greet, booksigning, and reception.

The series begins Thursday, March 3, at 7 p.m. with author Carol Wallace discussing her book All Dressed in White: The Irresistible Rise of the American Wedding (Penguin Books, 2004). This keenly observed social history of the ritual, industry, and subculture that is the American wedding is-like all Ms. Wallace's historical work-both enlightening and very entertaining.

Carol Wallace has written 22 books, both nonfiction and fiction. In 2010 she participated in BPMM's Winter Lecture Series with a talk on To Marry an English Lord, Or How Anglomania Really Got Started. Her latest work of fiction is a historical novel called Leaving Van Gogh, coming out in April 2011 from Spiegel & Grau.

Brides are followed by bohemians on Thursday, March 10, at 7 p.m. with a presentation by Andrea Barnet on her fascinating book All-Night Party: The Women of Bohemian Greenwich Village and Harlem, 1913-1930 (Algonquin Books, 2004). Kurt Andersen called Barnet's All-Night Party, a nonfiction finalist for the 2004 Lambda Literary awards, "tasty, thoughtful scholarship and storytelling."

Ms. Barnet is a regular reviewer for the New York Times Book Review and a contributor on arts and culture to a variety of magazines including Smithsonian Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, and Architectural Record. She is currently working on a biography of the poet Amy Clampitt.

Capping off the series on Thursday, March 17 is author Michael Lerner discussing Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City (Harvard University Press, 2007). The 18th Amendment to the Constitution prohibited the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol around the country. Intended to usher in a healthier, more moral and efficient society, proponents argued that it was needed nowhere more than in New York City-and nowhere did it fail more spectacularly. Dry Manhattan is the only full history of the city during one of the stranger eras in the country's history.

Michael Lerner, Ph.D., is the Principal of Bard High School Early College, a partnership between Bard College and the New York City Department of Education. He speaks frequently on New York City history and is working on a new project about the East Village and Lower East Side of Manhattan since the 1970s.

Registration for the lectures is requested: 718.885.1461 or info@bpmm.org. Cost: $10 adults; $7 seniors and students; members free.

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