Grab a beer, cup of coffee or glass of wine in the café and join museum staffers in the Martha Stecher Reed Library for a lively discussion of Rachel Kushner’s award winning novel The Flamethrowers and a staff led tour of the exhibition Heavy Metal.

The year is 1975 and Reno has come to New York intent on turning her fascination with motorcycles and speed into art. Her arrival coincides with an explosion of activity in the art world—artists have colonized a deserted and industrial SoHo, are staging actions in the East Village, and are blurring the line between life and art. Reno begins an affair with the son of a motorcycle magnate. Her relationship takes her to Italy where she falls in with a radical political group.

Copies of the book are available for purchase in the Museum Shop.