Videos

From Ernest Hemingway’s home in Key West, Florida, the guests talked about his life and writings, and how the history of the 1920s and 1930s was characterized in his novels and short stories, with…

Guests examined the origins and impact of the Harlem Renaissance which lasted from the end of World War I through the middle of the Great Depression. During that time, a group of…

Scholars and guests examined the final stages of the Civil War and beginning of the Reconstruction era through the writings of President Abraham Lincoln. They paid particular attention to…

The history of westward expansion was examined through the writings of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Lewis and Clark led an expedition to explore the West following the Louisiana Purchase.…

Guests examined the history of post-Civil War Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and race relations through the writings of Mark Twain. Ms. Fishkin is the author of Lighting Out for the…

In an excerpt from the American Writers program, “Writings of Kirk and Buckley,” William F. Buckley, Jr. was interviewed at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. He talked about the history of…

Guests examined the history of the Plains Indian in the late-nineteenth century, the policy of Indian removal, and warfare between the U.S. and various tribes. Black Elk wrote Black Elk Speaks…

Live from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., authors Neil Sheehan and David Halberstam talked about their involvement in the Vietnam War as part of the signature series,…

Guests talked about the life, works and legacy of author F. Scott Fitzgerald in an effort to learn about the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. “The Jazz Age,” which F. Scott Fitzgerald coined, or the…

From the library of DeWitt Clinton High School, guests examined racism in America and the rise of the civil rights movement through the life and writings of social critic James Baldwin. Dr.…

Guests examined the history of the early struggle for civil rights and the development of modern black culture through the writings of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Among the topics…

Guests examined the history of slavery and freedom in 19th century America through the life and writings of Frederick Douglass. After escaping slavery, Douglass wrote Narrative of the Life…

Guests examined the social, political, and military history of the Civil War era from the perspective of the Confederacy through the writings of Mary Chesnut. Her journals detailed life in the…

Guests examined the history of slavery, abolitionism, and the antebellum era through the writings of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Stowe, daughter of Congregationalist…

Guests examined the history of abolitionism, women’s suffrage, and the antebellum period through the writings of Sojourner Truth. She wrote an autobiography, with the help of Olive Gilbert,…

Guests examined the history of the early Colonial period through the life and writings of William Bradford. Bradford was governor of the Massachusetts Colony and the author of the Mayflower Compact and Of…

Guests talked about the life and writings of Ernie Pyle and his view of the 1930s and 1940s, focusing on his reporting from the front lines in World War II. They read several from Here Is Your War, a…

Guests examined the history of the pre-revolutionary era and Early Republic through the writings of Benjamin Franklin, publisher, scientist and early-American diplomat. Franklin wrote a number of…

Guests examined the history of the women’s rights movement and 19th century social relations through the writing of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Ms. Stanton drafted the Declaration of Sentiments adopted at the first women’s…

From Sunset Boulevard and the Harmony Gold Theater, the guests talked about the political history of America and the world from the mid-1930s to post-World War II through the life and writings of…