Behind the Desk at the Main: A Librarian's Memoir

From a celebrated librarian and public historian, a memoir about the promise of public libraries in a fractured world.

"This wonderful book appeals to the heart as well as to the mind, challenging the dark times we live in." —Azar Nafisi, author of author of Read Dangerously and Reading Lolita in Tehran

When Dorothy Lazard became a public librarian, she returned to the building that had shaped her life from childhood. At the flagship branch ("the Main") of the Oakland Public Library, she conn...