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Event Audio

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  • Hoover biographer George H. Nash argues that our 31st president was a far more dynamic, accomplished, and remarkable figure than the stereotypes suggest.
    George H. Nash - Herbert Hoover
    Thursday, August 30, 2012
    Plaza Branch

    Seemingly austere and reportedly passive in the face of a national economic calamity, Herbert Hoover is somewhat of a political orphan. But biographer George H. Nash argues that Hoover was a much more dynamic, accomplished, and remarkable figure than the hoary stereotypes suggest.

    Between 1975 and 1995 Nash lived in Iowa near the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, where he prepared three volumes of the definitive biography of the 31st president.

    Co-presented with the Truman Library Institute; co-sponsored by KCUR’s Up to Date.

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  • Battlefield researcher Douglas D. Scott describes his recent studies of Civil War battlefields in Missouri, including the battles of Wilson’s Creek and Boonville.
    Douglas D. Scott - Missouri Civil War Archaeology
    Sunday, August 26, 2012
    Central Library

    Civil War battlefields stubbornly conceal their secrets and their archaeology remains a buried, largely untapped source of historical information. Douglas D. Scott, developer of methodology that has enabled archaeologists to systematically investigate battlefields all over the world, discusses his recent studies of Civil War battlefields in Missouri, as well as the site of the Centralia Massacre.

    Retired from the National Park Service, Scott is an adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Nebraska.

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  • On the 149th anniversary of his raid on Lawrence, Kansas confederate guerilla leader William Clarke Quantrill (portrayed by Aaron Worley) discusses his bloody and controversial career as a Civil War bushwhacker. The session is being taped for later broadcast by KCPT-TV.
    Meet the Past - William Clarke Quantrill
    Tuesday, August 21, 2012
    Central Library

    Meet the Past with Crosby Kemper III returns for a conversation with William Clarke Quantrill, portrayed by Aaron Worley, on the 149th anniversary of Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence, Kansas.

    Quantrill earned notoriety for the 1863 raid on the abolitionist stronghold of Lawrence, in which some 180 unarmed men and boys were killed.

    The event will be taped by KCPT for later broadcast.

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  • Lawrence psychologist and author Dr. Wes Crenshaw offers insights into teen issues like sex and contraception, mental health, cutting, divorce, bullying, and suicide.
    Dr. Wes Crenshaw - Real Life Advice for Parents of Teens
    Thursday, August 9, 2012
    Plaza Branch

    Dr. Wes Crenshaw Lawrence family psychologist and author of Dear Dr. Wes: Real Life Advice for Teens and Real Life Advice for Parents of Teens offers insight for parents on teen sexuality, mental health, cutting, divorce, bullying, and suicide. He'll be taking audience questions and suggesting ways to better relate to teens and tweens, especially those transitioning to middle and high school.

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  • Novelist Thomas Mallon uses both drama and satire to take us behind the scenes of America’s biggest, wildest, most traumatic political scandal.
    Thomas Mallon - Watergate
    Thursday, August 9, 2012
    Central Library

    Many historians have written about the Watergate conspiracy. But can a novelist throw new light on this traumatic moment in American political history?

    Thomas Mallon does just that in Watergate, using drama and comedy to take readers behind the scenes of a national scandal, creating “a universal tragicomedy of ludicrous errors and malignant crimes, epic hubris and sorrow.”

    Mallon is the author of Henry and Clara, Two Moons, Dewey Defeats Truman, and Aurora 7.

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  • Douglas Hundley, an elder at the Second Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, explains why it is important to read and understand the King James Bible. The program complements Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible, an exhibit on display through August 10 at the Central Library.
    Douglas Hundley - Why Read the King James Bible
    Wednesday, August 8, 2012
    Central Library

    Why read the King James Bible? Douglas Hundley, an elder at the Second Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, answers that question.

    His talk is presented in conjunction with the exhibit Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible on display through August 10 at the Central Library.

    Hundley uses his love of the King James Bible as a stepping off point for an even more fundamental question: Why do we read?

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  • Celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman as education reformer Virginia Walden Ford discusses the movement for school choice.
    Virginia Walden Ford - The Case for School Choice
    Monday, July 30, 2012
    Plaza Branch

    Celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman as education reformer Virginia Walden Ford discusses the movement for school choice.

    Friedman, the late Nobel Prize-winning economist, was a champion of capitalism and an advocate of school vouchers.

    Ford is the author of Voices, Choices, and Second Chances: How to Win the Battle to Bring Opportunity Scholarships to Your State.

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  • Mark E. Neely, Jr., author of Lincoln and the Triumph of a Nation, examines charges that Lincoln played fast and loose with the Constitution during his presidency.
    Mark E. Neely, Jr. - Abraham Lincoln
    Thursday, July 26, 2012
    Plaza Branch

    In pursuing the Civil War, did Abraham Lincoln play fast and loose with civil liberties?

    Pulitzer Prize winner Mark E. Neely, Jr., author of Lincoln and the Triumph of a Nation, rejects that idea and argues that Lincoln’s interpretation of the Constitution was well suited to tolerate the stresses of wartime.

    Neely is McCabe-Greer Professor of Civil War History at Pennsylvania State University.

    Co-presented with the Truman Library Institute; co-sponsored by KCUR’s Up to Date.

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  • Ron Tanner explains how he — and his then-girlfriend, now wife — turned a garbage-strewn former fraternity house into a showpiece of Victorian architecture.
    Ron Tanner - From Animal House to Our House: A Love Story
    Thursday, July 26, 2012
    Central Library

    A decade ago Ron Tanner and his then-girlfriend (now wife) turned a condemned former fraternity house in Baltimore, Maryland, into a showpiece.

    Tanner will discuss that epic transformation as chronicled in his book From Animal House to Our House: A Love Story. He will also provide home renovation tips gleaned from his experiences.

    Tanner is an historic preservationist and a licensed home inspector.

    Co-sponsored by the Historic Kansas City Foundation.

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  • Religious scholar Wilburn Stancil discusses the King James Bible, of which it has been written: "If everything else in our language should perish, it alone would suffice to show the extent of its beauty and power."
    Wilburn Stancil - From Ancient Texts to Literary Masterpiece
    Tuesday, July 24, 2012
    Central Library

    Wilburn Stancil discusses the King James Bible, of which it has been written: “If everything else in our language should perish, it alone would suffice to show the extent of its beauty and power.”

    The program complements Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible, an exhibit on display starting July 12 at the Central Library.

    Stancil is a professor of theology and religious studies at Rockhurst University.

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