Please join us for a presentation of the newly released book Lillian Wald: America’s Great Social and Healthcare Reformer by Paul Kaplan.

Register here.

The author will discuss how this relentless advocate for the welfare of children, called “one of the least-known yet most important people” by President Franklin Roosevelt, became responsible for many of the social and health-related programs we take for granted today. A campaigner for school lunches and nurses in public schools and an early promoter of women’s suffrage, Wald was adept at navigating both the poorest neighborhoods and the upper circles of society, where she sought donors to support her efforts.

This book tells the little-known story of a middle-class Jewish nurse from Rochester, New York, who discovered a whole world that she never knew existed on New York City's Lower East Side, then the most densely packed neighborhood in the world. Deciding to live among the people she dedicated her life to serve, this book chronicles her unlikely journey.

In addition, Paul will also talk about another one of his books: Jewish South Florida: A History and Guide to Neighborhoods, Synagogues, and Eateries which is a hybrid of history and cultural travel and presents an overview of Jewish history in South Florida from the 1760s to the present.

Following the presentation, visitors will have the opportunity to tour the sanctuary of the Sixth Street Community Synagogue, a thriving, engaged and welcoming Modern Orthodox Jewish community in the heart of the East Village and originally St. Marks Lutheran Church, spiritual home of the German congregation that lost 1,000 parishioners in the General Slocum disaster.

About the author: Author Paul Kaplan has five published books in three series: Jewish Cultural Guides, Social History & Biography and Business Marketing. He has been featured on PBS, in New York Press, Amsterdam New York, Princeton Magazine and on numerous radio shows, including America's Dining and Travel, Let's Travel and Martha Frankel's Woodstock Booktalk. He has given book talks throughout the U.S. He earned a B.A. from Yale College and an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management. He serves as Director of Marketing for an education and technology company.