Boston Lit District’s Literary Lunch Break: Dick Lehr

New York Times bestselling author Dick Lehr (Black Mass) is out with Birth of a Nation: How a Legendary Filmmaker and a Crusading Editor Reignited America’s Civil War. The book examines the sway of a film that glorifies the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan juxtaposed against the efforts of a respected African American newspaper editor who tried to stop the movie from being shown in Boston. (Mayor Curley doesn’t come away looking good.) The Washington Post calls the work “fascinating,” while Booklist, in a starred review, says it is “a remarkable look at the power of mass media and the nascent civil rights movement at a pivotal time in American history.” Lehr, a former Boston Globe reporter and winner of several awards, knows how to dig into the facts — some of which occurred right at South Station where he will be speaking.