Neighbor News
Minicourse Winter Registration Open–2 Five-Week Courses–Friends of the Madison Library
Italian Mafia in Italy-ZOOM-Jan 20-Dr. Pastorino and Making of a Continental Power: The Expansion of US 1607 to 1890-In Person-Dr Darden
The Friends of the Madison Public Library will offer two new minicourses for the Winter 2026 Semester. ‘Italian Mafia: Origins and Development in Italy’ (ZOOM) by Dr. Gloria Pastorino, Professor Emerita, Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU), will begin on Tuesday afternoon, January 20, from 1:30 to 3:30 pm, and ‘Making of a Continental Power: The Expansion of the U.S. from 1607 to 1890’ (In-Person) by Dr. Gary Darden, Associate Professor History, FDU, will begin January 26, Monday afternoon from 1:30 to 3:30 pm. Both minicourses will be held for five consecutive weeks, two hours per lecture for a total of 10 hours.
The tuition for each minicourse is $95. To register, visit our website, www.friendsmadisonnjlibrary.org/minicourse-registration. For more information, email the Friends at minicoursesmadisonlibrary@gmail.com, or leave a message at 929-450-7940.
The minicourses are organized by the all-volunteer Friends of the Madison Public Library, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. All proceeds benefit the Madison Public Library.
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The “Italian Mafia: Origins and Development in Italy,” a lecture series with four optional films,
will look at the development of organized crime in Italy from its inception in the 19th century as Cosa nostra in Sicily to the current Sicilian Mafia, Neapolitan Camorra, Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, and Sacra Corona Unita. Although the term “Mafia” is used worldwide to define organized crime, this course will focus only on Italy.
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Date/time: Tuesday afternoons, 1:30 – 3:30 pm (2 hours) on
January 20 and 27 and February 3, 10, and 17, 2026.
Location: This course will be offered via Zoom. Prior to each of the last four lectures, an optional film will be available for streaming at home or for viewing at the Madison Public Library, 39 Keep Street, Madison, NJ.
“Making a Continental Power: Expansion of the U.S. from 1607 to 1890,” will focus on the following four events: (1) formation of British North America as a chain of separate colonies; (2) maturation of the 13 colonies and their rebellion for independence; (3) tension between Northern free labor and Southern slavery over Western expansion; and (4) rapid conquest and settlement of a preserved Union across the West.
Date/time: Monday afternoons, 1:30 – 3:30 pm (2 hours) on
January 26 and February 2, 9, 16, and 23, 2026.
Location: Madison Public Library, 39 Keep Street, Madison, NJ.
