Meet the author: Kolbert next up in Assembly Series

Veteran New Yorker journalist Elizabeth Kolbert visits the Washington University in St. Louis campus at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, in Graham Chapel in the next installment of the Assembly Series. Her book, “Field Notes From a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change” (2006) has been applauded as an unbiased overview of an urgent environmental crisis.

Growing out of her groundbreaking three-part series, “The Climate of Man,” in The New Yorker in 2005, “Field Notes” explores the debate over global warming using scientific data and personal accounts and observations from scientists, laypeople and the author.

Kolbert’s book was chosen by the Freshman Reading Program steering committee to be read and studied by the University’s incoming freshmen.

Kolbert

Over the summer, each student received a copy so they would arrive on campus ready for discussions led by selected faculty and campus experts to explore the book’s themes. The Freshman Reading Program began in 2003; its goal is to provide opportunities for increased student-faculty interaction.

“The Climate of Man” won the American Association for the Advancement of Science Journalism Award for magazine reporting and the 2006 National Academy of Sciences Communications Award in the newspaper/magazine category.

Kolbert was a political reporter for The New York Times for 14 years before joining The New Yorker in 1999. She is a graduate of Yale University.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (314) 935-4620 or visit assemblyseries.wustl.edu.