Decorah Public Library staff are hosting six book discussions in April. The groups are open to the public and newcomers are encouraged to attend. Anyone interested should call the library at 382-3717 to learn more or to reserve a book. Zoom links are available on the Library’s website or you can email ktorresdal@decorahlibrary.org to be added to any of the groups’ email distribution lists. Funds for multiple copy sets were generously provided by Friends of Decorah Public Library.

The History Book Group will meet Thurs. April 20 at 3:00 p.m. on the 2nd floor of the library to discuss chapters 10-17 of Herbert P. Bix’s “Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan.” In this biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers a look at the enigmatic leader whose sixty-three-year reign ushered Japan into the modern world. Bix shows what it was like to be trained from birth for a lone position at the apex of the nation’s political hierarchy and as a revered symbol of divine status. Influenced by an unusual combination of the Japanese imperial tradition and a modern scientific worldview, the young emperor gradually evolves into his preeminent role, aligning himself with the growing ultranationalist movement, perpetuating a cult of religious emperor worship, resisting attempts to curb his power, and all the while burnishing his image as a reluctant, passive monarch.   

For more information, contact Tricia Crary (Friday Book Group), Zach Row-Heyveld (Cookbook Book Group) or Kristin Torresdal (Happy Hour, History, and Speculative Fiction Book Groups) at 563-382-3717.