The Attwood Lecture: Simon Winchester Returns with The Breath of the Gods

“Winchester, a prolific and best-selling popular historian, turns his attention to that most powerful of forces: the wind. With his signature entertaining erudition, he explores a subject that has quite literally powered the human world since our inception.” - New York Times 

Wind can be seen as a malevolent force—gale-force destruction and cataclysmic fires—or as a savior of our planet—harnessed for clean, “safe” power. Between these poles lies a world of fascination, history, literature, science, poetry, and engineering which Simon Winchester explores in The Breath of the Gods with the curiosity and vigor that are the hallmarks of his bestselling works. Elm Street Books will be on site for book sales and signing.  

"If you have ever sat at dinner listening to a raconteur who has an anecdote for everything and moves with amazing fluidity from one subject to the next . . . then you will have an idea of what it is like to be on the receiving end of Simon Winchester in The Breath of the Gods.” - The Wall Street Journal 

“Winchester, a former reporter, can find a good story just about anywhere he looks, and . . .  the venerable storyteller has covered a lot of ground in the past half-century. This time, . . . [he] is taking to the air, literally, with a study of the phenomenon that shapes Earth's climate and influences human history.” 

- NPR.org 

The William Attwood Lecture Series presents distinguished speakers from the global fields of journalism, politics, government, and literature to the community. The series honors longtime New Canaan resident, journalist, and author William Attwood, who during his professional career was a presidential speechwriter for John F. Kennedy and ambassador to Guinea and Kenya.