FRAGILE CARGO | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation
Date and Time
Jul 2, 2023 5:00 pm
Location
Takoma
235 Carroll St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20012
Jul 2, 2023 5:00 pm
Takoma
FRAGILE CARGO tells the true story - for the first time in English - of the extraordinary effort to preserve the imperial art collections of China in the Second World War. To save the collections from Japanese invasion, museum curators and art historians crated up a quarter of a million objects and texts in Peking's Forbidden City. They transported twenty thousand wooden cases packed with irreplaceable art up mighty rivers, over ranges and through burning cities. For sixteen years, the curators moved and hid the art collections all over China to save them from air raids and plunder. The Wall Street Journal said: “In Fragile Cargo, the former BBC reporter Adam Brookes meticulously re-creates a 16-year-long odyssey that in drama and wonder far outstrips The Monuments Men...a fascinating and inspiring story of triumph and the tragedy of war.”
Voices of Takoma Authors is an ongoing series of programs sponsored by Historic Takoma featuring presentations by local authors about their works, their approach to writing, and their inspirations, drawing on authors in the Takoma Authors collection. Voices of Takoma Authors provides an opportunity for the community to learn about their author neighbors and engage in discussions with them. While many of these discussions occur at Historic Takoma, Busboys and Poets Books Takoma is hosting some as well. For more, see Historic Takoma’s page: https://historictakoma.org/voices-of-takoma-authors/.
Adam Brookes is joining us on the Busboys stage to discuss this incredible true story and his research to uncover it. Copies of FRAGILE CARGO will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Brookes will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 5:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of FRAGILE CARGO will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will not be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Adam Brookes was born in Canada and grew up in the UK. He studied Chinese at the University of London, and went on to become a journalist and foreign correspondent for BBC News, based first in Indonesia, then China and the United States. Along the way he reported from some thirty countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea and Mongolia. He writes fiction and non-fiction, and lives in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Historic Takoma is a membership-based, all-volunteer, 501(c)3 non-profit organization, founded to preserve the heritage of Takoma Park, Maryland and the Takoma Park neighborhood of the District of Columbia through educational activities and the preservation of historic landmarks and artifacts, especially documentary archives.
