All upcoming Biography & Autobiography programs

Historian Alexander Mikaberidze looks beyond the caricature of the frivolous queen to rediscover Marie Antoinette as a complex political actor—a woman negotiating power, motherhood, and identity in an age of revolution. Drawing on art, private correspondence, and contemporary accounts, he re-examines how Marie Antoinette’s image was constructed, weaponized, and ultimately transformed from royal scapegoat to enduring cultural icon.

Roald Dahl, famed for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, crafted worlds of dark humor, mischievous heroes, and villainous adults that continue to captivate readers. Adventurer, World War II fighter pilot, inventor, eccentric, and husband of actress Patricia Neal, he brought a darker, sharper wit to his adult fiction. Yet his legacy is also shadowed by well-documented antisemitism, prompting ongoing reassessment of both the man and his work. Historian Daniel Stashower explores Dahl’s complicated life and legacy, while actor Scott Sedar brings his most memorable stories to life.

Sir Thomas More, executed in 1535 for defying Henry VIII’s break with Rome, remains a complex figure. Canonized in 1935, he is celebrated for political courage yet criticized for persecuting Protestants. Modern views of More are far more nuanced than those in the famous portrayal of the saint in the 1966 film A Man for All Seasons, as seen in the broadly negative picture of More in Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall. Historian Jennifer Paxton traces his rise from John Morton’s household to chancellor, his friendship with Erasmus, and his influential Utopia.

William T. Sherman, famed Civil War general, and his brother John Sherman, long-serving U.S. senator, experienced the war as a defining event in their lives. The conflict became a true "brothers’ war" as each relied on the other during some of its darkest moments. Historian Bennett Parten discusses how the two Shermans navigated the Civil War together, with both rising to personal and professional heights.

Henry David Thoreau is widely known for Walden and “Civil Disobedience,” but he was also a pioneering environmentalist, an influence on nonviolence movements, and a geologist, botanist, inventor, poet, and early Darwinian thinker. Scholar Randall Fuller reexamines Thoreau as a figure shaped by post-Revolutionary America—an engaged artist-scientist who in many ways embodied the promise of a “new” citizen in the early Republic.

Long before modern art found its home in museums, it thrived in salons, collections, and networks cultivated by women. From gatherings in Europe to avant-garde circles in early 20th-century New York, these women nurtured artists, championed emerging talent, and shaped the tastes that defined modern culture. In a 3-session series, art historian Jennie Hirsh highlights the salonnières and patrons who forged spaces where innovation flourished. This session focuses on Gertrude Stein, Helene Kröller-Müller, and Margherita Sarfatti. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

The French Resistance was an extraordinary network of ordinary people—students, clergy, aristocrats, communists, Protestants, Muslims, and many Jews—who risked everything to defy Nazi occupation and the Vichy regime during World War II. From espionage and sabotage to rescue missions and intelligence gathering, members of the Resistance played a vital role in aiding the Allies and protecting vulnerable citizens. Ralph Nurnberger examines how this extraordinary coalition put their lives on the line to defy Nazi occupation and safeguard fellow citizens.

Frank Gehry rejected strict Modernism early on, embracing experimentation, unconventional forms, and raw materials to redefine architectural expression. His Santa Monica house signaled this shift, and digital tools later enabled the sculptural complexity seen in the Guggenheim Bilbao, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Fondation Louis Vuitton. Though often associated with Postmodernism and Deconstructivism, he resisted labels, prioritizing intuitive exploration. Celebrated and criticized, Gehry transformed contemporary architecture and expanded the possibilities of what buildings can communicate. Bill Keene, a lecturer in history, urban studies, and architecture, examines Gehry’s life and work. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Richard III remains one of England’s most contested monarchs, portrayed as both protector and ruthless usurper. Fresh evidence, including letters hinting at the survival of his nephews, fuels debate over his guilt in the Tower mystery. Historian Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger examines his legacy as warrior king, Shakespearean villain, and cultural icon. From the 2012 discovery of his remains to disputes over his reburial and a 2025 court case, Richard’s reputation continues to spark controversy about how he is remembered and why his story still matters.

From preserving his father’s family photographs and his own teenage documentaries of outdoor adventures through his youth in Paris to his physical breakdown in Africa and Cuba, Ernest Hemingway’s process served as his magnetic north throughout his eventful life. Drawing on his personal papers and private photograph collection, Hemingway biographer Hilary Justice recreates how Hemingway worked, illustrating the writer’s process: Experience sparks inspiration, and creativity meets craft in service of “one true sentence.”