WAYNE — The Cary Memorial Library will host Maine author and journalist Douglas Rooks at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 24. Rooks will read from his new book, “Rise, Decline and Renewal: The Democratic Party in in Maine,” just published by Hamilton Books.

In “Rise, Decline and Renewal,” Rooks tells the remarkable story of the Maine Democratic Party, rising from irrelevance with the election of Edmund Muskie in 1954. They successfully challenged the ruling Republican Party, producing a model government in a state long perceived as a cultural and economic backwater. Leadership failures, however, led to diminished prosperity and political and institutional decline.

While this book focuses primarily on the evolution of the Democratic Party, it makes a strong case that only a vigorous two-party system based on competition rather than endless conflict can restore Maine state government to health.

The library is located at 17 Old Winthrop Road, just off Route 133 in downtown Wayne. The program is free and the library is handicapped accessible.

Copies of this book as well as Rooks’ previous book, “Statesman: George Mitchell and the Art of the Possible,” will be available for purchase and signing.

For more information, call 207-685-3612. For potential weather issues that day, check the library’s website, http://www.cary-memorial.lib.me.us/.

Douglas Rooks