7-9pm at The Alluvion - FREE public event - Please RSVP below
Join us in celebration of Jim Olson's new book "People of the Dune"
There will be live readings from the book, live music, snacks, and a cash bar inside the venue. Books will be available for purchase at the event. Jim is such an incredible figure in our community and The Alluvion is so honored to host the release of his latest work.
Please RSVP to reserve your place:
About the book:
In a tense showdown between corporate interests and community values, the fate the Voyager Dune hangs in balance. Mython Corporation's ambitious plans to extract the dune and replace it with sprawling residential complex along one of North America's Great Lakes sparks a grassroots movement of resistance. Led By Local Tribes, residents, and conservation groups, protesters gather at the base the dune,forming a sprawling encampment to block the mining operation.
Legal Battles Ensue, with Mython filing lawsuits to remove the encampment while the tribes and concerned citizens rally under the banners of the Mound People Coalition and people the dune, seeking legal avenues to halt the destruction of this cherished landscape. Amidst the legal wrangling, the weight of Judge Odom “Odie" Holmes's decision looms large. Despite His adherence to the principles of law, he grapples with the profound moral implications of his ruling. Asthetrial unfolds his courtroom, he realizes he faces not only the fate the dune, but the fate of the earth itself.
“There is the bird and the movement of the bird. There is the dune and the idea of the dune. Through a totally surprising alchemy of the artist’s and the lawyer’s point of view, Jim Olson illuminates both in what is an amazing and thoroughly entertaining kind of colloquy of a novel, a conversational yet probing Socratic debate about what has value and meaning in life. Or you can think of it this way: this story is the best ever episode of Law and Order mixed with the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Or, reading this book is like tapping on the back of the closet and finding it opens to other worlds, as in CS Lewis. Plus, one of the main characters in this novel is Judge Odom Holmes, an absolute treasure of a person as he struggles as we struggle to to get a good night’s sleep while discerning meaning and value in this world of ours. Pay attention to him.”
- Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times best selling author on “People of the Dune”
About the author:
JIM OLSON is a lawyer and writer who lives in the Great Lakes region. For five decades Jim has represented citizens and communities in the courts in the never-ending battle between the blade of civilization and life-sustaining rivers, lakes, soil, and wilderness, which all life and human endeavors depend on. He received the Michigan State Bar’s Champion of Justice Award for his work for citizens in their nine-year battle against the food giant Nestle over water diversion and bottled water operations. In 2010, he founded For Love of Water, a nonprofit law policy center, to protect public ownership and rights in the waters of the Great Lakes.