WilmU Book Club

January 2021  |  This Is Chance!

Date/Time:
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
12:00pm ET

Location:
Online through Zoom

Please join the WilmU Book Club for an online discussion of Jon Mooallem's book, This is Chance! The Shaking of an All-American City, A Voice That Held It Together. The thrilling, cinematic story of a community shattered by disaster—and the extraordinary woman who helped pull it back together.

Students, Faculty, Alumni, and Staff are all welcome! 

Borrow the ebook or audiobook for free on Overdrive through your local library! Learn more.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the spring of 1964, Anchorage, Alaska, was a modern-day frontier town yearning to be a metropolis—the largest, proudest city in a state that was still brand-new. But just before sundown on Good Friday, the community was jolted by the most powerful earthquake in American history, a catastrophic 9.2 on the Richter Scale. For four and a half minutes, the ground lurched and rolled. Streets cracked open and swallowed buildings whole. And once the shaking stopped, night fell and Anchorage went dark. The city was in disarray and sealed off from the outside world.

Slowly, people switched on their transistor radios and heard a familiar woman’s voice explaining what had just happened and what to do next. Genie Chance was a part-time radio reporter and working mother who would play an unlikely role in the wake of the disaster, helping to put her fractured community back together.

Read a preview of the book here.

Upcoming Events

February 24, 2021: The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris & A Promised Land by Barack Obama
March 24, 2021: Our Time is Now by Stacey Abrams