OLLI 0165 - Book Discussion: How to Stand Up to a Dictator
Course Description
Join us for a discussion of Maria Ressa's book How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for our Future. Maria Ressa, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is a critic of social media's increasing power to spread disinformation that serves the interests of authoritarian regimes. She believes that social media is destroying our shared reality and threatening democracy. Ressa's family moved from the Philippines to the US in 1973, when Ressa was 10. The discussions will focus on Ressa's personal history, the disinformation crisis she identified while working in the Philippines as a journalist, how she opposed it, and ways we can all stand up for truth and democracy, even as they are being assailed. Presenter Mary Sussman holds a B.A. in English literature, a M.A. in Creative Writing and a M.A. in Journalism and has facilitated several book clubs.
Presenter(s)
Mary Sussman
For the past year, Mary Sussman has facilitated a memoir book club at the Whitefish Bay Library. From 2018-2023, she facilitated the League Cafe Book Club (for the League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County), which focused on books concerning racial equity. Previously, she facilitated Shakespeare and Company, dedicated to reading and discussing the plays of William Shakespeare. Sussman holds a B.A. in English literature, a M.A. in Creative Writing and a M.A. in Journalism, with a science writing specialty.