Rich Benjamin recounts the coup that ended his grandfather’s presidency of Haiti, the wound it left in his family, and his urgent efforts to know his mother despite their past.

In 1957, two weeks after his inauguration, Haitian populist hero Daniel Fignolé and his wife—Rich Benjamin’s grandparents—were held at gunpoint and put on a plane to New York in a coup hatched by the Eisenhower administration. Benjamin’s mother and her siblings were kidnapped and ultimately smuggled out of the country. But while Rich was growing up, no one in his family spoke of this past. He didn’t know why his mother struggled with emotional connection, why she was so erratic. In turn, she knew little about him, about his childhood emotional pain, the physical agony from his blood disease, how he came to terms with his sexuality at the dawn of the AIDS crisis. It would take Rich years to piece together the turmoil that reverberated through his family. In this piercing memoir, he brings that story to light and paints a bold, pugnacious portrait of America—of the human cost of the country’s hostilities abroad, the experience of migrants on these shores, and the indelible ties of family.

Rich Benjamin worked on Talk to Me: Lessons from a Family Forged by History during his 2021-2022 Fellowship at the Library's Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. He will discuss his book with journalist and media executive Nicholas Thompson.

To join this event in-person | Please be sure to register for an In-Person Ticket. Doors will open 30 minutes before the program begins. For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. All registered seats are released shortly before start time, and seats may become available at that time. A standby line will form shortly before the program.

This event will not be livestreamed.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Rich Benjamin is a cultural anthropologist and the author of Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America, which was selected for an Editor’s Choice award from the American Library Association. Benjamin’s writing appears in the New Yorker, New York Times, and elsewhere, and he’s appeared as a commentator on MSNBC and CNN. He’s been interviewed in national and international media, including NPR and PBS. His work has received support from the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Bellagio Center, Princeton University, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. He is currently a National Endowment for the Humanities Long-Term Fellow at the Library.

Nicholas Thompson is the CEO of The Atlantic, a position he has held since 2021. During that time, the publication has won three National Magazine Awards for general excellence, three Pulitzer Prizes, and been named Digiday's Publisher of the Year. Thompson is the former editor-in-chief of WIRED, where he built successful subscription and affiliate revenue businesses. He is a former contributor for CBS News and previously served as editor of NewYorker.com. He is also the author of The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War.

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ACCESSIBILITY

In-Person | Assistive listening devices and/or hearing loops are available at the venue. You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template. This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs.

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The Cullman Center is made possible by a generous endowment from Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman in honor of Brooke Russell Astor, with major support provided by Mrs. John L. Weinberg, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Estate of Charles J. Liebman, The von der Heyden Family Foundation, John and Constance Birkelund, and The Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, and with additional gifts from Helen and Roger Alcaly, The Rona Jaffe Foundation, The Arts and Letters Foundation Inc., William W. Karatz, Merilee and Roy Bostock, and Cullman Center Fellows.