On Wednesday, May 8th, historian Dan Breen will share an entertaining talk about the humble potato’s role in historic events at 7 pm in the Keys Community Room (lower level) of the Milton Public Library, 476 Canton Avenue in Milton. When the Spanish conquerors arrived in the New World, they tended to turn up their noses at a crop they had never seen before: the humble potato. They had no idea what they had found. For the hardy tuber would lead to fabulous wealth for some, untold misery for hundreds of thousands of others, ease the way to the Industrial Revolution, and spawn the greatest and most dreadful human migration of the 19th century. No single crop better marks the transition from traditional ways of life to modern ways–for better or worse.

Dan Breen, Ph..D. is a faculty member at Newbury College in Brookline, and teaches law at Brandeis University. A historian, his primary area of research is party politics during the Jefferson administration. This free event, sponsored by the Friends of the Milton Library, is open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Jean Hlady, Adult Services Librarian, at (617) 698-5757 or visit the library’s website: www.miltonlibrary.org.