Darien Library

American Gulag: Week One

On Monday, January 7, 2019, Mark Albertson returned for his new lecture series on American Gulag.

American Gulag: 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of Dutch traders bringing the first 20 Africans to the New World, depositing them at Jamestown. Thus the stage was set for that sordid trade in human trafficking that will spawn a racial divide that exists to the present day. Vassalhood consigned humans to the bondage of a never-ending purgatory in the American Slaveocracy. Unpaid toilers who, over the next two-and-a-half centuries, slaved and sweated in the American Gulag as living and breathing property, owned, for the most part, by the Planter class.

This series will dissect that progression, starting in 1619, to the demise of the Slaveocracy below the Mason-Dixon Line in 1865. Concluding with an analysis of the aftermath of Slavery on the social fabric in the Republic.

About the Presenter
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include: World War I and Iraq: Creation of Colonialism; A History, Vietnam; A History, World War I; The Turning Points of World War II; The Great Patriotic War: The Titanic Clash Between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire: Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.

American Gulag: Week Two

On Monday, January 14, 2018, Mark Albertson presented the second in his American Gulag lecture series.

Join us for week two of a four-week series on the American Gulag.

American Gulag: 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of Dutch traders bringing the first 20 Africans to the New World, depositing them at Jamestown. Thus the stage was set for that sordid trade in human trafficking that will spawn a racial divide that exists to the present day. Vassalhood consigned humans to the bondage of a never-ending purgatory in the American Slaveocracy. Unpaid toilers who, over the next two-and-a-half centuries, slaved and sweated in the American Gulag as living and breathing property, owned, for the most part, by the Planter class.

This series will dissect that progression, starting in 1619, to the demise of the Slaveocracy below the Mason-Dixon Line in 1865. Concluding with an analysis of the aftermath of Slavery on the social fabric in the Republic.

About the Presenter
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include: World War I and Iraq: Creation of Colonialism; A History, Vietnam; A History, World War I; The Turning Points of World War II; The Great Patriotic War: The Titanic Clash Between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire: Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.

New Darien Library: Opening Day

On Saturday, January 10, 2009, Darien Library opened its doors for the first time at 1441 Post Road in Darien CT. January 10th that year was proclaimed Darien Library Day in the State of Connecticut. You can also see in this video, Harold W. McGraw Jr., a dear friend of Darien Library. We opened the Library on his 91st birthday. The Children's Library is officially named after Mr. McGraw.

The Cold War: Détente and Arms Control

On Monday, December 12, 2016, Mark Albertson joined us for week three of his Cold War lecture series.

The jockeying for position of primacy between Washington and Moscow sometimes resembled a high stakes game of chicken. But behind the idea of Détente was the military card; in particular, the nuclear option. This talk will trace attempts at nuclear disarmament, such as SALT I--the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks I; SALT II; the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty or START I; the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. These will be explored against the background for potential use: Operation Vulture, 1954; the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962; the Arab-Israeli War, 1973.

About the presenter

Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include: World War I and Iraq: Creation of Colonialism; A History, Vietnam; A History, World War I; The Turning Points of World War II; The Great Patriotic War: The Titanic Clash Between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire: Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.

Fascism: Yesterday and Today — Right Trumps Left

On Monday, September 23, 2019, Mark Albertson presented the third lecture in his Fascism series.

Mussolini, Hitler, Franco and Mosby may be names you recognize, but what is Fascism? Join us during this four-week series as we explore Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, militarist Japan, Golden Dawn in Greece, to the spread of white supremacy. What does this all mean for the appeal of Fascism in the 21st century?

Week 3: Right Trumps Left
Today's discussion will focus on examples of how the Right overcomes the Left to insure the primacy of Fascism in Italy, Germany, Franco’s Spain, Militarist Japan and the United States. Such examples will be explored for a better understanding of how Fascism is used to blunt popular movements, such as that of workers.

About the Presenter
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include: World War I and Iraq: Creation of Colonialism; A History, Vietnam; A History, World War I; The Turning Points of World War II; The Great Patriotic War: The Titanic Clash Between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire: Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.

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Connecticut in the American Revolution

Despite being one of the Nation's smaller states, Connecticut played an extraordinarily large role in the American War for Independence. Connecticut government, people, and industry helped pave the way to a remarkable victory against the superpower of the 18th Century. But it was not without cost, as Connecticut was repeatedly invaded by British forces during the war. This presentation reviews the importance of Connecticut and those whose actions proved significant during the eight years of conflict.

So, grab your cocked hat and buckled shoes, your quill pen and paper for a visit to Connecticut’s Revolutionary past.

#About the Presenter
Eric Chandler is retired from a 30+ year career as an underwriter for a leading land title insurance company. He has been involved in American Revolutionary War Living History since 1974. He has portrayed infantry, light infantry, whale-boat raider, and mounted and dismounted dragoons. His artistic endeavors included writing and recording a comedy CD, and decades as a musician playing saxes in area Rock & Roll and Blues bands. To his credit, or shame, he had his likeness used in an issue of MAD Magazine. Eric is enjoying retirement with his wife Catherine, taking classes, giving lectures on historical topics and continuing to live history.

The Cold War: The Bear Grows Claws

On Monday, December 5, 2016, we were joined again by Mark Albertson for the second lecture in his Cold War series.

Today's lecture surrounds The Cold War from the perspective of the Motherland. Starting with Stalin's program of Forced Industrialization in 1928, the rise to power of the Soviet Union from a backward peasant economy to the world's second leading industrial power will be traced. The presentation will then progress through the 1950s to the collapse of 1990-91.

About the presenter

Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include: World War I and Iraq: Creation of Colonialism; A History, Vietnam; A History, World War I; The Turning Points of World War II; The Great Patriotic War: The Titanic Clash Between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire: Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.

American Gulag: Week Four

On Monday, January 28, 2019, Mark Albertson finished up his four-week lecture series on American Gulag.

American Gulag: 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of Dutch traders bringing the first 20 Africans to the New World, depositing them at Jamestown. Thus the stage was set for that sordid trade in human trafficking that will spawn a racial divide that exists to the present day. Vassalhood consigned humans to the bondage of a never-ending purgatory in the American Slaveocracy. Unpaid toilers who, over the next two-and-a-half centuries, slaved and sweated in the American Gulag as living and breathing property, owned, for the most part, by the Planter class.

This series will dissect that progression, starting in 1619, to the demise of the Slaveocracy below the Mason-Dixon Line in 1865. Concluding with an analysis of the aftermath of Slavery on the social fabric in the Republic.

About the Presenter
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include: World War I and Iraq: Creation of Colonialism; A History, Vietnam; A History, World War I; The Turning Points of World War II; The Great Patriotic War: The Titanic Clash Between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire: Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.

Fascism: Yesterday and Today — The Origins of Fascism

On Monday, September 9, 2019, Mark Albertson presented the first week of his new lecture series.

Join us for week one of a four-week series on Fascism: Yesterday and Today.

Mussolini, Hitler, Franco and Mosby may be names you recognize, but what is Fascism? Join us during this four-week series as we explore Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, militarist Japan, Golden Dawn in Greece, to the spread of white supremacy. What does this all mean for the appeal of Fascism in the 21st century?

Week 1: The Origins of Fascism
This session will trace the origins of Fascism arising from the fall out of the Age of Reason and Enlightenment, giving way to the rise of Fascism in Italy in October 1922. Our conversation ends with an explanation of Mussolini’s Corporate Fascist State.

About the Presenter
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include: World War I and Iraq: Creation of Colonialism; A History, Vietnam; A History, World War I; The Turning Points of World War II; The Great Patriotic War: The Titanic Clash Between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire: Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.

Adolf Hitler: Week Four

Week three's lecture was lost due to a technical glitch so we're jumping ahead.

On Monday, March 4, 2019, Mark Albertson joined us for a new four-week series on Adolf Hitler.

Adolf Hitler remains one of the most frightfully interesting characters. His name has become synonymous with torture, brutality and murder. Beyond that, he symbolizes a national forfeiture of democratic ideals and high-cultural and societal standards, when a people prostitute their faith in themselves to indulge their need for a hero, a larger-than-life figure who will lead them into Valhalla. Hitler, a modern day deity of hatred who was everything to some and in the end proved nothing to all, is a warning sign for those ready to follow the teachings of a false prophet. Such is the essence of Adolf Hitler, Fuhrer of the Third Reich.

About the Presenter
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include: World War I and Iraq: Creation of Colonialism; A History, Vietnam; A History, World War I; The Turning Points of World War II; The Great Patriotic War: The Titanic Clash Between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire: Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.

The Cold War: Kennan and Containment

On Monday, November 28, 2016, Mark Albertson began his Cold War lecture series.

Our series begins with discussion of the doctrine of the renowned American foreign policy specialist, George Kennan. Based on the Mr. X article he published in Foreign Affairs in 1947, Containment was the strategy by which America would face the Soviet challenge whenever and wherever it posed a threat. Kennan considered the Soviet threat primarily political; and, saw such tools as America's economic advantage and psychological warfare as the proper strategy for reining in the Soviet Bear. Of course, for this strategy to be successful Americans would not be able to withdraw into that self-imposed incarceration known as Isolationism, as in 1865 and 1919.

About the presenter

Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include: World War I and Iraq: Creation of Colonialism; A History, Vietnam; A History, World War I; The Turning Points of World War II; The Great Patriotic War: The Titanic Clash Between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire: Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.

Foundations of the American Republic: America’s Founding Document

Our series begins with the Declaration of Independence. This credo of American Exceptionalism was a spur to the Revolutionaries in 19th century Europe, the upheavals of 1820-21, 1830-31, and the 1848 Springtime of Nations. The marvelous aspect here, America did not send a soldier or a dime. Just a document.

About the Presenter
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include: World War I and Iraq: Creation of Colonialism; A History, Vietnam; A History, World War I; The Turning Points of World War II; The Great Patriotic War: The Titanic Clash Between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire: Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.

The French Revolution: Bonapartism

On Tuesday, November 26, Mark Albertson presented the final lecture in his four-part series on the French Revolution.

The Revolutionary Fervor unleashed by the colonists in North America seemed carried by the currents of the Atlantic to the bastion of Western Royalty . . . Europe. And in 1789, the Great French Revolution commenced.This series will explain this cataclysmic event that has changed the course of history. For like the American Revolution, the French was based on the ideas of the Age of Reason/Enlightenment put into action. And though the Napoleonic dictatorship was the result, the ideas so feared by European Royalty were not put back into the bottle and capped at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. They would fester and metastasize into a tsunami of change that would result in 1914.

Week 4: Bonapartism
The promise of the ideas of the Age of Reason/Enlightenment give way to dictatorship in the wake of revolutionary violence and a continental wide war. General Napoleon Bonaparte will become the dictator of France. Wielding Nationalism as a faith, he leads his minions to empire. Included will be an analysis of Napoleon’s rise to power and that phenomenon known as Bonapartism.

About the Presenter
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include: World War I and Iraq: Creation of Colonialism; A History, Vietnam; A History, World War I; The Turning Points of World War II; The Great Patriotic War: The Titanic Clash Between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire: Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.

Adolf Hitler: Week One

On Monday, February 11, 2019, Mark Albertson joined us for a new four-week series on Adolf Hitler.

Adolf Hitler remains one of the most frightfully interesting characters. His name has become synonymous with torture, brutality and murder. Beyond that, he symbolizes a national forfeiture of democratic ideals and high-cultural and societal standards, when a people prostitute their faith in themselves to indulge their need for a hero, a larger-than-life figure who will lead them into Valhalla. Hitler, a modern day deity of hatred who was everything to some and in the end proved nothing to all, is a warning sign for those ready to follow the teachings of a false prophet. Such is the essence of Adolf Hitler, Fuhrer of the Third Reich.

About the Presenter
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include: World War I and Iraq: Creation of Colonialism; A History, Vietnam; A History, World War I; The Turning Points of World War II; The Great Patriotic War: The Titanic Clash Between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire: Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.

Vietnam, The Long War: Defeat of a Superpower

On Monday, February 8th, 2016, we were joined for the final lecture of this Vietnam series.

America's defeat in Vietnam is the topic of this presentation, spanning the years 1961 to 1973. The gradual build up of American forces in the early part of the conflict until1965, when the massing of forces accelerated. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, President Johnson's micro-management the war, rising domestic tensions in the United States, TET offensive, the air bombing of North Vietnam, the Paris Peace talks, the eventual American defeat, will all be discussed.

About the presenter

Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Albertson teaches history at Norwalk Community College. In May 2005, Albertson was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.

Meet the Author: Lee Child at Darien Library

On Sunday, June 6, 2010, our Spring Author Series concluded with a visit from bestselling author Lee Child. Lee Child is the #1 bestselling author of 14 Reacher thrillers, including his newest, 61 Hours, which was published om May 18th. The series character Jack Reacher is a former United States Army Military Policeman who led a fictional unit, the 110th Special Investigations Unit, formed to handle exceptionally tough cases, especially those involving members of the United States Army Special Forces. For more information, please visit:

Fascism: Yesterday and Today — Unitarian Fascism

On Monday, September 16, 2019, Mark Albertson gave his second lecture in his new series.

Join us for week two of a four-week series on Fascism: Yesterday and Today.

Mussolini, Hitler, Franco and Mosby may be names you recognize, but what is Fascism? Join us during this four-week series as we explore Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, militarist Japan, Golden Dawn in Greece, to the spread of white supremacy. What does this all mean for the appeal of Fascism in the 21st century?

Week 2: Unitarian Fascism
Focus will be on the Wahhabi strain of conservative Islam. Muhammad ibn abd al-Wahhab and Muhammad ibn Saud formed an association in 1744 that would spawn a theocratic state of the most reactionary variety in the 20th century. Intolerant of other Sunni strains with the view that Shias are heretics, and a disregard for Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, the Saud-Wahhab state maintains its legitimacy by using the Islamic religion to justify an autocratic state which serves the designs of the Saud family.

About the Presenter
Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine and is a long-time member of the United States Naval Institute. In addition, Mark teaches history at Norwalk Community College. His courses include: World War I and Iraq: Creation of Colonialism; A History, Vietnam; A History, World War I; The Turning Points of World War II; The Great Patriotic War: The Titanic Clash Between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; and American Empire: Grand Republic to Corporate State. In May 2005, Mark was presented with a General Assembly Citation by both houses of the state legislature in Hartford for his effort in commemorating the centennial of battleship Connecticut.