Past Events

Fall 2018 Events

Power Without Victory: Woodrow Wilson and the American Internationalist Experiment

November 13, 2018

For decades, Woodrow Wilson has been remembered as either a paternalistic liberal or reactionary conservative at home and as a naïve idealist or cynical imperialist abroad. Historians’ harsh judgments of Wilson are understandable. He won two elections by promising a deliberative democratic process that would ensure justice and political empowerment for all…


Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War

November 2, 2018

In The Field of Blood, Joanne B. Freeman recovers the long-lost story of physical violence on the floor of the U.S. Congress. Drawing on an extraordinary range of sources, she shows that the Capitol was rife with conflict in the decades before the Civil War. Legislative sessions were often punctuated by mortal threats, canings, flipped desks, and all-out slugfests…


Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump

October 11, 2018

“Believe me” may be the most commonly used phrase in Donald Trump’s lexicon. Whether about building a wall or protecting a Christian heritage, the refrain has been constant. And to the surprise of many, a good 80 percent of white evangelicals have believed Trump—at least enough to help propel him into the White House…


The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World of the 1950s

September 20, 2018

An original and penetrating assessment of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, showing Ike’s enormous influence on modern America, the Cold War, and on the presidency itself. In a 2017 survey, presidential historians ranked Dwight D. Eisenhower fifth on the list of great presidents…


God Save Texas: A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State

September 5, 2018

God Save Texas is a journey through the most controversial state in America. It is a red state in the heart of Trumpland that hasn’t elected a Democrat to a statewide office in more than twenty years; but it is also a state in which minorities already form a majority (including the largest number of Muslims)…