Think of monuments as the first part of a call and response, as in music, as in worship. Any monument that we stand before asks something of us. We bring our sense of history to the present, otherwise the granite/marble/limestone/bronze before us will be mute.

Join us for a special evening as Laura Knoy interviews Hancock author Howard Mansfield about his latest book, Invisible Monuments: Tribute, Memory, and the Summoning of the Past. Hear the stories of forgotten, invisible, and erased monuments on our landscape, including the site of a “desperate railroad riot,” a rediscovered African Burial Ground, and one family’s tribute to a son lost in war.

7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Harris Center. Space is limited, and registration is encouraged. For more information, including questions about accessibility, contact Susie Spikol.

Co-sponsored by the Harris Center for Conservation Education and the Hancock Town Library.

About Howard Mansfield

Howard Mansfield sifts through the commonplace and the forgotten to discover stories that tell us about ourselves and our place in the world. He writes about history, architecture, and preservation, very often set in the Monadnock Region. He is the author of a dozen books, including The Bones of the Earth, The Same Ax Twice, Chasing Eden, Dwelling in Possibility, and In the Memory House, which the New York Times called “a wise and beautiful book.” In his previous book, I Will Tell No War Stories: What Our Fathers Left Unsaid About World War II, he “breaks through the wall of silence some war veterans maintain,” said Booklist. “The result is an impeccably researched and beautifully written . . . history of all that is left unsaid in the aftermath of war.” Mansfield has been honored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council as “a gem in our granite landscape” and by the Ruth & James Ewing Arts Awards. He has won a gold medal for Commentary for City and Regional Magazines, a silver medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards, and was a City and Regional Magazine Feature Story Finalist. He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Franklin Pierce University.

He has also served as a writer and consultant for museums, written and performed a stage show, A Journey to the White Mountains, that was the subject of an Emmy Award-winning film, and has co-written a forthcoming documentary.

(photo © Allegra Boverman)

About Laura Knoy

Laura Knoy is one of New Hampshire’s most well-known journalists. She was the founding host of New Hampshire Public Radio’s “The Exchange” which for 25 years was the state’s most widely recognized and respected radio program. She has also worked at National Public Radio and other broadcast news outlets.

In mid-2021, Laura stepped down from the host’s chair at NHPR to pursue other interests, including writing fiction. Her skills in interviewing, moderating, narrating, voice-overs, and public speaking are frequently called upon. In 2022, Laura joined the Rudman Center at UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law as its Director of Community Engagement. She’s the host of three podcasts, including one focused on New Hampshire authors, called ReadLocalNH.