Videos

Brian Dolinar led a discussion about the book, The Negro in Illinois, a project that was part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration. The project employed prominent writers…

Erik Larson recounts the tenure of the first American ambassador to Hitler’s Germany, William Dodd. The former college professor and his family arrived in Germany in 1933 and became friendly…

Professor Gates spoke about how personal stories relate to history and showed pictures while talking about tracing his family history. Topics included his African-American heritage, his gene…

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Herbert Donald talked about his book, We Are Lincoln Men: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends, published by Simon and Schuster. In the book, the author ex…

David Starkey discussed his biography Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne, published by HarperCollins. Elizabeth I, the daughter of Anne Boleyn and King Henry VIII, was the first woman re…

Jonathan Brent talked about the book he co-authored with Vladimir Naumov titled Stalin’s Last Crime: The Plot Against the Jewish Doctors, 1948-1953, published by HarperCollins Publishers. O…

Author Adam Nicolson talked about his book God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible, published by HarperCollins. He explained how the English monarch King James I assembled scho…

Author Nat Brandt discussed his book Chicago Death Trap: The Iroquois Theatre Fire of 1903, published by Southern Illinois University Press. When the Iroquois Theatre opened in 1903, it was…

A preview clip of Nat Brandt discussing his book Chicago Death Trap: The Iroquois Theatre Fire of 1903, published by Southern Illinois University Press.

Mr. Klinenberg talked about the Chicago heat wave that killed over 700 people in one week during the summer of 1995. His book, Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, was publish…

Mr. Rodriguez talked about the book Brown: The Last Discovery in America, published by Penguin Putnam. In this, the third installment in his multivolume memoir, Mr. Rodriguez explores the no…

Professor Postman talked about his book, Building a Bridge to the 18th Century: How the Past Can Improve Our Future, published by Knopf. He focused on current societal problems that could be…

Participants talked about the life and career of columnist Mike Royko and about the book One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko, which was a collection of his columns.