Event Audio

In conjunction with the world-premiere of “The Darwin Project,” an upcoming co-presentation of The Friends of Chamber Music and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, British scientist Andrew Berry demystifies the most important and misinterpreted of all biological ideas: evolution. A lecturer in Organismic & Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, Berry’s research is dedicated to finding evidence of Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection at the DNA level.

On May 22, 2011, a massive EF-5 tornado devastated Joplin, Missouri, killing 159 people and injuring countless others.

Reporters Eric Adler and Laura Bauer of The Kansas City Star discuss Joplin 5:41, a new book chronicling the newspaper’s coverage of the devastating tornado.

The book celebrates the heroic efforts of Joplin residents and the thousands of volunteers who rushed to the scene to begin the healing. All royalties from sales of the book go to the Joplin Recovery Fund.

The annexation of the Philippines by the United States was a contentious issue at the turn of the last century. Supporters of annexation called the notion “benevolent assimilation,” while Mark Twain – interested by the racial and religious ideologies circulating amid the national debate – called it “hogwash” and “pious hypocrisy.”

KU professor Susan Harris examines a rarely seen political side of Twain, whose questions about America’s role in the world remain as relevant in 2011 as they were in 1900.

This presentation is a part of The Big Read.

Biographer James Grant discusses his new portrait of late nineteenth-century Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas B. Reed, who served with greater influence than any Speaker who came before him.

Until 1890, members of the House would often filibuster by refusing to answer roll call – even if they were present – depriving the chamber of a quorum. During one such filibuster, Reed directed the clerk to count anyone in attendance as present.

Grant is editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer.