ROCKPORT — The first talk in the Camden Conference Community Events Series will take place Wednesday, Oct. 16, at 6 p.m., at Rockport Public Library. Richard S. Sloan will give a presentation entitled The Basques and the Wabanaki in an Age of Autocrats: 1420 to 1620, drawing from his book Exceptions to Their Rule (published in December 2023). 

Sloan’s program will examine how two cultures — the Basques and the Wabanaki — governed themselves, defended their freedoms, and created industrial level operations that fished for cod, hunted whales, and traded furs in the two centuries before the Mayflower landed near Plymouth Rock. He will also talk about how these cultures were exceptions to the rule of autocrats elsewhere around the globe, who were consolidating power in their home countries and terrorizing indigenous peoples from the tip of Cape Horn in Chile to Cape Columbia in Canada. 

Presenter Richard S. Sloan is a political strategist turned author.

"A seasoned veteran in democratic politics, Sloan has fought tirelessly against the rise of autocracy — his life and career is defined by his unwavering commitment to democracy," said a news release.

He received his B.A. and J.D. degrees from Ohio State University and spent his entire career working for labor unions and/or the candidates they endorsed. Since retiring, Sloan has split his time between Brooklin, Maine and Washington, D.C. 

This presentation is hosted by the Rockport Public Library and offered as a free community event in anticipation of the 38th Annual Camden Conference –Democracy Under Threat: A Global Perspective, February 21-23, 2025, live at the Camden Opera House and live-streamed to the Strand Theatre in Rockland, Lunt Auditorium in Falmouth, and to homes and classrooms worldwide. For more information, please visit .