FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2026, at 7 PM.
In the spirit of American cultural prophecy—from Ta-Nehisi Coates to Rebecca Solnit:
Acclaimed writer Casey Gerald's new book THE GREAT REFUSAL is a groundbreaking work of joyous dissent and stunning vision, a survival guide to a society in crisis.
Preorder a SIGNED First Edition Hardcover copy of THE GREAT REFUSAL and receive VIP Reserved Seating.
Want a sneak peak? Listen to Casey Gerald's recent interview with Tonya Mosley on NPR's Fresh Air.
This event is part of our America’s 250th Literary Celebrations series.
About the Book:
Most afternoons for the past three years, Casey Gerald took a walk. He would pass the compound that Elon Musk was building in his neighborhood; the burned-down Freedman’s church; the little house where he and his lost lover Jack had seen a shooting star. He knew the world was crumbling, but he didn’t fret. He had been promised: When it breaks, you’ll be ready.
"There is a great unfolding going on,” Gerald asserts, "and all the clues for what’s to come are planted in the people." In this quietly redemptive and lyrical book, Gerald shares his map for finding those clues, finding each other, and finding our way out of this dark and wearied time. On the other side of No, Gerald insists, there is a Yes—an embrace of what we really want, what we might finally claim once we refuse what’s being offered.
Calling forth a kaleidoscopic cast, from Odysseus to D’Angelo, Sun Tzu to Simone Biles, Black literati, and desert mystics, Gerald implores us to take our power back and to remake the world together, on our terms. Written with Didion’s cold eye and Baldwin’s unflinching urgency, The Great Refusal is a lifeline from the other side of ruin.
About the Author:
Casey Gerald is the author of There Will Be No Miracles Here, a memoir that was named a Best Book of 2018 by NPR and The New York Times, a finalist for the LAMBDA Literary Award, a longlist selection for the Carnegie Medal for excellence in Nonfiction among others. Gerald’s essays include “The Black Art of Escape,” published in New York Magazine and selected by Longform as one of the best essays of 2019; and “Leon Bridges After Dark,” a Texas Monthly cover profile that won the 2022 National City & Regional Magazine Award. Prior to his writing career, Gerald co-founded and served as CEO of MBAs
Across America (MBAx), his TED Talks have been viewed over 4 million times, and he opened for President Barack Obama at SXSW in 2016. A native of Oak Cliff, Texas, Gerald attended Dallas Public Schools before college at Yale, where he played varsity football and co-founded the Yale Black Men's Union. He later received an MBA from Harvard Business School. Casey is a Senior Fellow of Humanity in Action, a Presidential Leadership Scholars Fellow, and a former Aspen Words Writer-in-Residence. He serves on the board of Kickstarter, PBC. He is a New America fellow and resides in Waxahachie, Texas.
About the Interviewer: