Lorain County Reads Author Visit: Eric Klinenberg - Palaces For the People

Program Type:

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Age Group:

Everyone
Please note you are looking at an event that has already happened.
  • Registration is required for this event.
  • Registration is no longer available for this event.
  • This event is for registrants age 14 to Over 18.

Event Details

Join us for the Lorain County Reads Author Visit with author Eric Klinenberg
Thursday, September 25 / 6-8 p.m. 
Elyria Performing Arts Center 

This fall the Lorain County Reads county-wide reading initiative will explore how shared spaces are crucial to how people and communities can form a more unified world. Communal gathering areas such as libraries, parks, churches, and schools can be a catalyst for solving some of our most pressing societal challenges, building more equality and a more united society. 

The Lorain County Reads 2025 Author Visit with Eric Klinenberg is brought to you in partnership with Amherst Public Library, Avon Lake Public Library, Community Foundation of Lorain County, Elyria Public Library, Grafton-Midview Public Library, Herrick Memorial Library, Lorain County Metro Parks, Lorain Public Library System, Oberlin Public Library, and Ritter Public Library. 

More About Eric Klinenberg 
NYU Professor of Sociology | Expert on Social
Infrastructure and Community Resilience

Eric Klinenberg is a renowned sociologist and professor at New York University, best known for his work on social infrastructure and its critical role in fostering community resilience. As the author of Palaces for the People, Eric explores how libraries, parks, and other public spaces help communities thrive, especially in the face of crises such as climate change and inequality. His research focuses on how strong social infrastructure can reduce isolation and build stronger, more connected societies.

Palaces for the People:

How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic LifeWe are living in a time of deep divisions. Americans are sorting themselves along racial, religious, and cultural lines, leading to a level of polarization that the country hasn’t seen since the Civil War. Pundits and politicians are calling for us to come together and find common purpose. But how, exactly, can this be done?

In Palaces for the People, Eric Klinenberg suggests a way forward. He believes that the future of democratic societies rests not simply on shared values but on shared spaces: the libraries, childcare centers, churches, and parks where crucial connections are formed. Interweaving his own research with examples from around the globe, Klinenberg shows how “social infrastructure” is helping to solve some of our most pressing societal challenges. Richly reported and ultimately uplifting, Palaces for the People offers a blueprint for bridging our seemingly unbridgeable divides.