The subtitle of The Mercantile Library’s lecture series is “Writing to Change the World.” Few people embody that sentiment better than George Packer.
Packer, currently a staff writer for The New Yorker, has been doing exactly that in various books, essays and articles over the last two decades, including his deeply incisive 2005 book Assassins’ Gate, which examined the U.S. policy that led to the invasion of Iraq, the impact the war had on ordinary Iraqis, the Bush administration’s complete ineptitude after the fall of Baghdad and the many complex issues that remain unresolved four years later. Yes, Assassins’ Gate, perhaps more than any other single piece of reporting, changed the way many thought about Iraq.
7 p.m. June 11 at the Mercantile Library. Read Jason Gargano's interview with Packer here.
