Ralph Nader, a leading consumer advocate for more than four decades, is coming to Valencia Community College to promote his book, “The Seventeen Traditions.”
Nader is scheduled to speak from 1 to 2 p.m. Thursday, April 7, at Valencia’s East Campus Performing Arts Center, 701 N. Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando.
Admission is free and open to the public. Nader will be available to sign his book, which will be available for purchase, immediately after his talk.
Author, lawyer, college lecturer and the “U.S.’s toughest customer” as described by Time magazine, Nader is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential figures in American history.
His career as consumer advocate led him to found some of the most enduring and ground-breaking public interest organizations in the country, including the Public Interest Research Group, often referred to as PIRG; Public Citizen; the Center for Study of Responsive Law; the Center for Auto Safety; and the Project for Corporate Responsibility.
Because of Nader’s work to bolster laws and federal standards and regulatory agencies in the public interest, his biography states, “we drive safer cars, eat healthier food, breathe better air, drink cleaner water, and work in safer environments.”
Nader was educated at Princeton and Harvard and lectured on government and history at the University of Hartford. He visits colleges and universities across the country to this day.
The Connecticut native first gained national attention following the release of his 1965 book, “Unsafe at Any Speed.” The book detailed problems with questionable automobile design.
In his latest book, Nader recounts 17 traditions he picked up from family, friends and the community while growing up in bucolic Winsted, Conn.
Discipline, patriotism and civics figure prominently in the traditions he describes in his book, which is part memoir, tribute to his parents and guide to life.
An excerpt: “In these times of widespread conformity and self-censorship, I find myself thinking back upon my childhood, recalling what made it special for me and for my brother and sisters. Recently I’ve found myself thinking that I should share these memories with others, in the hope that they might offer guidance and inspiration for the parents, children, and grandchildren of today. And what I hope will be especially helpful, in this very different world we inhabit, are my memories of the traditions in which my childhood was immersed — traditions that remain vivid in my mind, and that guide me to this day.”
Nader’s talk will be simulcast in the atrium of Building 3 in case of overflow.
For more information, contact Professor George Brooks at gbrooks@valenciacc.edu.
For more about the book: http://seventeentraditions.com/
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