About this Event
Join Books Inc. Berkeley in welcoming local author Marc Sapir to the shop for a reading and signing of his memoir Déjà Vu With Quixotic Delusions of Grandeur!"
On a balmy October afternoon in 1971 I found myself on my back on a street in South San Francisco, my left shoulder blade pinned to the curb. I had tripped....(and) there was a lanky young man with an unsettling ferocity in his eyes standing over me, pointing a handgun at my face..."
Though this typical public-schooled suburban American kid becomes a doctor with the Cesar Chavez-led United Farm Workers movement, the opening lines of Marc Sapir's memoir reveal a life of disorderly chaos. From a radical disruptive anti-war medical student at Stanford, Sapir became a Public Health official, then accidentally first medical director of an all-inclusive team-based health program for disabled elders, caring for, writing and editing books about (and by) those elders. He coordinated development of Berkeley's high school health center and later operationalized a methodology in public opinion polling that explains systematic deception in opinion research. Labeling himself a failed communist, the grandfather of 6 and playwright battles for working class egalitarian ideals while wandering around like a dement. Sapir inserts commentaries on social de-evolution, language, literature and cosmology, distilled through living during the holocaust and exposure to Oliver Sacks' oeuvre and support. Youngster Marc dreamed of composing music and writing but, being a "good Jewish kid", he caved to parental pressure and became "my son the doctor,"...in the beginning.
"A delightful and insightful look at human beings on our planet from 1941 through our current era--leaving one wondering about what we will do next--continue to align against one another or find a way to join together in a world where each and every person matters. Thank you Marc, my co-presenter on The Poor Peoples Campaign at Rossmoor (2019).) --Peg Miller, PT, Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor and Somatic Psychotherapist. Founder of the first Early Intervention Program in New York City (1969); developer of the Women's Program at Options Recovery Services In Berkeley, (1999)
"The years from 1961-1975, aka "The Sixties", were among the most turbulent and dramatic periods in U.S. history. The young radicals who challenged the stifling political, cultural and sexual norms of that day didn't win "The Revolution", but they did make a lasting impact. We need more of them to share their stories before they are all gone. In Deja Vu with Quixotic Delusions of Grandeur, Marc Sapir steps up to the task as he narrates the 80 plus years of a radical life well lived as an activist and a doctor who faithfully served his working-class patients for decades...Deja Vu is a reminder of the joys and the travails of being a long-distance runner in the struggle for a better world." --John Tarleton, Editor, The Indypendent Newspaper, New York City
"Commitment to making this a better world is in short supply today; a lifelong commitment translated into action is rare. In Deja Vu with Quixotic Delusions of Grandeur, Marc Sapir, MD, shares with the reader his life as a physician and social activist committed to healing the individual and the world. The book is sprinkled with engaging side stories that makes it a reading pleasure. At the same time, it is an enduring and inspiring argument for healing a tormented world." --John Swartzberg, MD, FACP, Clinical Professor, Emeritus Professor, School of Public Health, Division of Infectious Diseases & Vaccinology and Chair, Editorial Board, UC Berkeley Wellness Letter
"A whirlwind of thoughts and experiences, from medical work to political dissidence to half a century of encounters with both prominent and everyday people. Among many other things, I was struck by his portrait of Cesar Chavez as a human being, with flaws and virtues. Worth a read." - Bob Egelko, journalist.
Marc Sapir is a writer, playwright, physician, grandfather and social activist.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Books Inc., 1491 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, United States
USD 0.00
