All upcoming Biography & Autobiography programs

The principal architect of the party system and one of the founders of the Democratic Party, Martin Van Buren’s unparalleled skills as a political strategist won him the nickname “The Little Magician"—and a series of increasingly high-profile offices. Van Buren scholar James M. Bradley depicts the struggle for power in the tumultuous decades leading up to the Civil War as he charts the eighth president’s ascent from a tavern in the Hudson Valley to the White House.

Since the days of Christopher Columbus and the earliest European explorers, Italians have made their way to American shores. But only since the late 19th century have Italian immigrants by the millions made a major impact on American culture. Writer and lecturer Adam Tanner tells a personal story of uncovering the ancestry of his grandfather, who moved to the United States at the peak of this immigration boom. His broader narrative examines how Italian Americans changed our popular culture, politics, and, of course, food.

Though the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852 helped propel the nation into the Civil War, the author has generally been thought of as having little engagement with the conflict itself. Author and scholar Robert S. Levine addresses that assumption by reviewing key moments in Stowe’s career from 1852 to 1870, focusing on the Civil War period with a discussion of her letters, novels, and essays—and providing a new picture of Stowe as a vigorous exponent of interracial democracy long after the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

One of the greatest colorists, Pierre Bonnard created portraits, landscapes, and interiors built of luscious brushwork and informed by a freedom that allowed him to envision the world in a dreamlike, personal way unbound by constraints of visual realism or academic artistic conventions. Art critic Judy Pomeranz explores Bonnard’s vision, life, and influences and the world in which he lived. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Craftsmen, dramatists, perfectionists, melodists, and unlikely partners, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II not only changed the American musical, they changed us too. Filmmaker and cultural historian Sara Lukinson offers an abundant sampling of musical clips from their shows in a joyful evening that celebrates the enduring magic they created.

The most notorious murder of the Middle Ages took place in Canterbury Cathedral, where Archbishop Thomas Becket was killed by four knights of King Henry II in December 1170. Historian Jennifer Paxton explores how the archbishop fell afoul of his king for both personal and political reasons; ignited a political dispute that convulsed church and state for almost a decade; and why Becket’s violent death turned him from a lightning rod for controversy into the most important saint in Europe.

Amidst the darkness of the Warsaw Ghetto, Irena Stanislawa Sendler, a Polish social worker and nurse emerged as a beacon of hope. Operating through a secret network, Sendler rescued more than 2,000 Jewish children from its confines. Despite arrest, torture, and a looming death sentence, she remained steadfast, never revealing their whereabouts. Historian Ralph Nurnberger sheds light on the extraordinary bravery of Sendler, who risked everything to save the children of the ghetto.

Gen. George Patton, known for both his expertise in mobile tank warfare and his brash behavior and mercurial temper, is remembered as a legendary military leader with few equals. But what were the judgments of Patton’s enemies during World War II—many of whom were also veteran masters of mobile warfare? Harry Yeide, author of Fighting Patton­, exposes the German perspective on how and why they lost their battles with Patton's forces.

In the fall and early winter of 1903, two innovative and courageous engineering teams were racing toward a once-unimaginable goal: to be the first to fly. One was a pair of brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright; the other was Dr. Samuel Langley, secretary of the Smithsonian, and his brilliant assistant, Charles Matthews Manly. We know who won—but do we know why? Writer and filmmaker Paul Glenshaw tells the story of the epic competition.

Winner of four Pulitzer Prizes, Robert Frost was a groundbreaking artist and cultural icon, a rural sage who became America’s “national poet.” His poetry suggested how small encounters between the individual and the natural world could often serve as metaphors for the larger themes of the human condition. Author Daniel Stashower delves into Frost's life and legacy and actor Scott Sedar brings the poet's words to life with readings from his most celebrated works.