On Wednesday, March 3, Nick Taylor who is an independent scholar/writer will talk about the discoveries that he made while researching his 2008 book, “American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work.”

Taylor’s program will be the last in the “Telling our Stories Series” which has been sponsored by the SouthFirst Bank.

Library Director Dr. Shirley Spears calls the series a great success with attendance averaging 165 people per program.

“The attendance is a tribute to the high quality of the presenters,” she said.

“Every program has been an entertaining yet remarkable learning experience. The quality of the lectures and the clarity of the photos and illustrations are unsurpassed by any series that we have had before. We are already planning our fall series where we hope to do even better.”

This final program is co-sponsored by the Alabama Humanities Foundation and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities Center at Auburn University.

The program on the Works Progress Administration (WPA) is designed to bring the story of this New Deal initiative to the citizens of Alabama.

“Nick Taylor should be just the person to tell about the WPA story since his book, “American-Made,” has prompted closer scrutiny of Roosevelt’s New Deal” Spears said.

The author has spoken on the New Deal, the WPA, and the Depression at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and at the Council of Foreign Relations conference, A Second Look at the Depression and the New Deal.

He won the Christopher Award for his book and the Notable Book Award from the American Library Association.

Reviews of Taylor’s “American-Made” have been largely favorable.

One reviewer wrote, “This highly readable overview of how average Americans were able to get back on their feet and at the same time, help boost the country. The book does not sanctify the WPA and it shows how in many cases there were glaring imperfections in how it was run.

On the other hand, the over reaching theme is how the program succeeded in finding ways give people hope and help them without treading on the concept of handing out charity to people too proud to receive it.”

Taylor writes non-fiction exclusively with topics ranging from tournament bass fishing to the Mafia to life in a small church.

His memoir, “A Necessary End,” recounts a baby boomer’s growing concern for his parents in their final years and his story of an Israeli’s journey into the German neo-Nazi underground, “In Hitler’s Shadow,” was adapted as an HBO feature movie. He is an eclectic writer with an interest in writing engaging narratives about many topical subjects.

Taylor has indicated that his presentation at Comer Library will focus on the following points: Unemployment in the Great Depression and the responses to it by Herbert Hoover and later by Franklin D. Roosevelt; The WPA in Alabama with special emphasis on projects undertaken in Alabama, their results and the responses to them; Parallels between the Depression and the economic crisis that began in 2008; Parallels between the politics of the 1930s and those of today; and a commentary on the cultural legacy of the WPA and the New Deal projects which millions of Americans still enjoy today; and the benefits of public investment which cannot always be known at the time.

The “Telling our Stories” brown bag lunch series is sponsored by SouthFirst Bank.

The Hightower Room opens at 11 a.m. and participants are invited to bring a sandwich and enjoy drinks and desserts provided by the library.

Working people are invited to come by on their lunch break to enjoy the programs which will begin promptly at noon in the Harry I. Brown Auditorium.