KENT—Author and director Mary Haverstick will speak about her latest book, “A Woman I Know,” Feb. 29 at 6:30 p.m. at Kent Memorial Library.
Her book is the true story of a filmmaker whose investigation into her film’s subject opened a new window onto the world of Cold War espionage, CIA secrets and the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Haverstick, an independent filmmaker, was creating a biopic of aviation pioneer Jerrie Cobb, the key figure in a group of extraordinary women who in 1960 passed the same tests as the legendary male astronauts of the Mercury 7, but never went to space.
Just as casting was set to begin, Haverstick received a mysterious warning from a government agent. Soon she began to suspect that there was more to Cobb’s story than met the eye.
As she dug deeper, she discovered that Cobb’s life shadowed that of a mysterious CIA agent named June Cobb, whose espionage career traced an arc of intrigue from the jungles of South America to Fidel Castro’s Cuba, to the communist literary circles in Mexico City—and ultimately to the Kennedy assassination in Dallas.
Haverstick’s attempt to learn the truth directly from Cobb plunged her into a cat-and-mouse game that stretched across a decade.
Haverstick’s most notable work as director was for “Home,” which starred Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden.
She is currently chronicling the turbulent political landscape of her home state, Pennsylvania, for her documentary, “Tipping Point, PA.”
Register here.
