Going Dutch

Manhattanville College presents Russell Shorto, chronicler of Dutch Manhattan, at 7 p.m. April 5 as part of its Master of Arts in Writing Program’s Meet the Writers Spring 2011  Series.

Shorto, who is also a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, will read from his books “Descartes’ Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason” and “The Island at the Center of the World.”

The latter is a sometimes poignant, sometimes harrowing account of Dutch New York as the ancestor of the seemingly soulless but actually courageous capitalist cosmopolis we know today.
On Sept. 8, 2009, as the world prepared to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s exploration of the river that now bears his name, Shorto received a Dutch knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau for strengthening the relationship between the Netherlands and the United States through his publications and as director of the John Adams Institute in Amsterdam. It is there that the onetime Putnam County resident now makes his home.

There will be a reception, Q & A and  book-signing after the reading, which will be held in the college’s Reid Castle, 2900 Purchase St. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. For information and reservations, contact  Karen Sirabian, director of Manhattanville College’s Master of Arts in Writing Program, at ( 914) 323-5239, email sirabiank@mville.edu or log onto mville.edu/writing.