"The Rise" and "The Unseen Truth" can be purchased at the Westcott Shop. You can make a purchase through our online store or onsite at 85 South Greenmount Avenue, Tuesday through Sunday, 10am-5pm. No purchase is necessary to participate in our book club.
Sarah Lewis is a distinguished author and Harvard professor whose work explores the intersections of art, race, and democracy. Her writing has appeared in leading national publications and her scholarship has reshaped conversations on visual culture and citizenship. As a pioneer of Harvard’s Vision & Justice course, she brings critical insight to the classroom and public discourse alike. Her contributions have earned numerous fellowships, awards, and institutional recognition across the humanities and cultural scholarship.
ABOUT THE RISE:
The gift of failure is a riddle: it will always be both the void and the start of infinite possibility. The Rise—part investigation into a psychological mystery, part an argument about creativity and art, and part a soulful celebration of the determination and courage of the human spirit—makes the case that many of the world’s greatest achievements have come from understanding the central importance of failure.
ABOUT THE UNSEEN TRUTH:
Was America's racial divide built on a lie? In her new book, The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America, Sarah Lewis, founder of Vision & Justice, uncovers the pivotal moment when Americans came to ignore the truth about the false foundations of the nation’s racial regime. The surprising catalyst occurred in the nineteenth century when the Caucasian War—the fight for independence in the Caucasus that coincided with the end of the U.S. Civil War—revealed the instability of the entire regime of racial domination. In a masterpiece of historical detective work, Lewis exposes one of the most damaging lies in American history.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sarah Lewis is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and the founder of Vision & Justice. She has authored and edited over 60 publications including The Unseen Truth, winner of the American Book Award; the bestseller, The Rise, the award-winning volumes, Carrie Mae Weems and “Vision & Justice”; as well as Coreen Simpson and Race Stories. Lewis was named to the 2026 TIME List, The Closers, in recognition of her work toward greater equality in the United States. She has organized landmark convenings, founded a Vision & Justice Book Series, and curated exhibitions, including If Emmett Till Lived: Freedom on American Ground, opening at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago in September 2026. Her writing has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Artforum, and The New York Review of Books, and her work has been the subject of profiles from Vogue to The Boston Globeto The New York Times. Lewis is the recipient of an honorary degree from Pratt Institute, along with the Walter Channing Cabot Fellowship at Harvard University, the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, the Arthur Danto/ASA Prize from the American Philosophical Association, the Freedom Scholar Award from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and the Infinity Award for Critical Writing and Research from the International Center of Photography.
Questions? Email info@westcotthouse.org.
Special thanks to Tom Schiff and Mary Ellen Goeke for making this program possible.
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