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LEWISTON — Lewiston native and former Lewiston Deputy City Administrator Phil Nadeau will speak about, and read from, his new book, “The Unlikeliness of it All – Part 1,” at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19, in Callahan Hall, Lewiston Public Library, 200 Lisbon St.
The program is free and open to the public. The book looks at how 150 years of immigration influenced the city’s economic, social and political trajectory. He discusses how Lewiston and Auburn made up a community where 70 percent of its jobs in the early 20th century were tied to local textile and shoe manufacturing industries, and the state’s largest economy. Over time, many immigrants and the city’s predominantly French Canadian community worked through cultural, political and religious discrimination to improve their lives and to become less dependent on their mature, declining industries. At once prescient toward the shifting modern landscape and thoughtful in the careful collection of historical details, the book uncovers little-known and new information regarding notable historic moments, facts, and people. It explains how the city’s “global singularity” began with a world championship fight and why the eyes of the world remained fixated on this small Maine town.
Nadeau is a native of Lewiston, and served in the U.S. Air Force, worked at a family business and in public administration, including as town manager. He retired fom his role as Lewiston deputy city administrator in 2017. In 2001, he became the city’s primary information official for matters associated with new Somali refugees. In this role, he began to research refugee information and data that, at the time, was not widely available to the public. This research became part of his graduate work, leading to a masters in public police and management from the University of Southern Maine in 2005.
He has been interviewed by dozens of national and international media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, National Public Radio and Al-Jazeera, among others. Additionally, he has spoken and presented on his work in Lewiston at conferences throughout the U.S.
For information, contact the LPL Adult & Teen Services desk at 207-513-3135 or LPLReference@lewistonmaine.gov.
