Want to thank the commentators and everyone for assembling this deeply honor especially to be giving the William Roger lewis in the flesh. We were on the state Department Committee suffering through a lot of bows and arrows back in the decade prior, and i got to know him well and i feel really honored to give a lecture that is in his name. This book came about and so many of you, my friends, have heard this origin story. This came about because lewis liked the review i had done and mentioned the series that helen was doing that would use my biography to teach history that would pick biographical topics or would use a representative biography to get a broader subject of history. They had just published their first volume. It was on pocahontas. And issues regarding native American History, they were looking for somebody to do something on foreign relations, he offered me the opportunity to put together the perspectives. These were supposed to be short and concise books, that was the idea
2007. I want to thank shelby for her steadfast support for the biography center over all these years. It is her program that made this possible. Please note the next event is coming up in two days on this thursday october 15th where victor and i will interview larry about his timely and important new biography of joseph mccarthy. Tonight we are here to celebrate the publication of abe, Abraham Lincoln in his time a new biography by david reynolds. His book launch and the book has received early reviews and the Publishers Weekly and elsewhere and we encourage everyone to look it up on amazon or your own local bookstore. David reynolds is a distinguished professor at the Graduate Center and the author of Walt Whitmans america a cultural biography, winner of the bancroft prize. His other books include beneath the american renaissance, john brown abolitionist and mighty year than the sword, Uncle Toms Cabin and the battle for america. He is a regular book reviewer for the New York Times bo
This generation the first part of his career overseas courtesy first of the Chicago Tribune shortly after graduating from harvard in the middle east from iraq and other countries. In 2008 shared a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting and then covering politics and Foreign Affairs with the 2014 National Book award and as a finalist for the 2015 put surprise. The new book is adapted from an occasional series of new yorker articles over the past decade including most recently, the profile of biden last august for him it has become an area of accidental expertise planting the former Vice President in the book to highlight the extensive experience, fundamental decency and language of dealing. Speaking of articulate and incite the conversation with Pete Buttigieg the 2020 democratic president ial candidate he also has a new book out he did an event for that three weeks ago so recognizing evans work and also putting in the political his former primary opponent who is now the enthusiasti
That was a grand introduction. If you just want the major accomplishments of David Rice Atchison, thank you, it has been a lovely evening. [laughter] needless to say, his administration is a little less impressive than maybe truman or anyone else who was ever president. However, David Rice Atchison is someone you should know about. He was a significant player in the days leading up to the civil war and the term what we call bleeding kansas. He was one of the people who really began the push to get kansas as a state and he tried to direct it in a certain direction that he felt was beneficial for the union. Was he misguided . Very possibly. Was he successful . Absolutely not. And, but what is important was who this person was and why, unfortunately, he disappeared from everything. The library came up with the davidfor this program, rice atchison, president no one knows. Looking at that, i realized that long ago in another lifetime as a journalist, i wrote a column for the newspaper i wor
The aha is a membershipsupported organization, just a reminder. One has to say these things, anybody who watches Public Television or listens to public radio is ready for this. If you would like to become a member and support this type of content, membership links are located in the chat on zoom and in the comments on facebook live. I want to give an especially grateful thankful to History Channel for their generous sponsorship of this webinar. Lets get started. It is an honor to introduce todays panelists, Annette Gordonreed, professor of law and history at harvard university. And david blight, professor of history and director of the lehrman center for the study of slavery, abolition and resistance at yale university. The professors are Pulitzer Prize winning historians and they have won lots of other prizes as well. They have written and spoken frequently and insightfully on issues relating to monuments, history, memory and our nations continued failure to fully confront the implica