>>> the author of four books and articles and reviews her birth is betty ferdinand magnificent disrupter. she came to the school at the university and our moderator is the author of seven books, three historical novels and for biographies and a play that focusesyt praised for combining rich storytelling and literary with deep research to provide, to bring alive in 19th century chicago and the disco era manhattan. her books have been translated into several languages and she has been a judge for prominent literary contests. as a journalist's she's written for many publications including "the new york times," "the wall street journal," "the chicago tribune," the "los angeles times," theit smithsonian and te town and country. rachel's book will be available for purchase outside the black curtains once again and we will have a signing right behind us. so i will turn the rest of the program over to you. >> thank you. can everybody hear me? thank you for coming. betty ferdinand and as you probably know is a monumental figure in the history of feminism. her best-selling book the feminine mystiq