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Event Video

To view a video recording of a previous Library special event, click the icon. The Library offers recordings only with the permission of the presenter.

  • Author and businessman Barnett C. Helzberg, Jr. and Library Director Crosby Kemper III hold a public conversation with some of the local entrepreneurs profiled in Helzberg's new book Entrepreneurs + Mentors = Success: 22 Convincing Stories.
    Barnett C. Helzberg Jr. - Entrepreneurs + Mentors = Success: 22 Convincing Stories
    Thursday, June 28, 2012
    Central Library

    No matter what the business problem, there’s usually someone who’s dealt with it before. That’s the power of mentoring, business veterans share their insights with up-and-coming entrepreneurs.

    Author and businessman Barnett C. Helzberg Jr. and Library Director Crosby Kemper III hold a public conversation with some of the local entrepreneurs profiled in Helzberg’s new book Entrepreneurs + Mentors = Success: 22 Convincing Stories.

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  • Historian Jeff Broadwater discusses the presidency of James Madison who played key roles in the creation of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, but whose clear political mind became muddled when it came to slavery and race.
    Jeff Broadwater: James Madison
    Wednesday, June 27, 2012
    Plaza Branch

    Historian Jeff Broadwater argues that no single figure can tell us more about the origins of the American republic than our fourth president, James Madison, a bookish political theorist who played key roles in the creation of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, but whose thinking became muddled on the issue of race.

    Broadwater is professor of history at Barton College and author of James Madison: A Son of Virginia and a Founder of the Nation.

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  • Author Brandon G. Kinney explores the complex series of events that led to Missouri’s brief but bloody Mormon War of 1838, a conflict over religion, ideology, and land.
    Brandon G. Kinney: The Mormon War of 1838
    Sunday, June 24, 2012
    Central Library

    Author Brandon G. Kinney explores the complex series of events that led to the brief but bloody Mormon War of 1838, a conflict over religion, ideology, and land pitting Joseph Smith and his Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints against other Missouri residents, the governor, and the state militia.

    Kinney is a graduate of the Creighton University School of Law and practices law in Butler, Missouri. He is the author of The Mormon War: Zion and the Missouri Extermination Order of 1838.

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  • When her husband, President Woodrow Wilson, suffered a stroke in 1919, did Edith Wilson control the reins of power to become, in effect, our first woman president?
    Kristie Miller: Edith Bolling Wilson
    Thursday, June 21, 2012
    Plaza Branch

    Flamboyant, confident, and controversial, Edith Bolling Wilson was not your traditional First Lady. After her husband, Woodrow Wilson, suffered a debilitating stroke in 1919, she took the reins of government and acted on behalf of her ailing spouse. Historian Kristie Miller looks into the life of the woman known as “Madame Regent” and “the Assistant President” and asks: Was Edith Wilson, in effect, our first woman president?

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  • Legendary CBS anchorman Dan Rather discusses the events and personalities he has covered in 60 years of reporting.
    Dan Rather - Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News
    Wednesday, June 20, 2012
    Central Library

    Legendary CBS anchorman Dan Rather joins Kansas City Public Library Director Crosby Kemper III for a public conversation about his new memoir, Rather Outspoken: My Life in the News.

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  • Author Max Holland delves into the mystery of Mark Felt, the FBI official who as the legendary “Deep Throat” helped bring down the presidency of Richard Nixon.
    Max Holland - Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat
    Monday, June 18, 2012
    Central Library

    Author Max Holland delves into the enigma that is Mark Felt (1913-2008), the FBI official who as the mysterious Deep Throat shared with reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein insider information on the Watergate scandal and by doing so helped to bring down President Richard Nixon.

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  • Pulitzer Prize-winning author James B. Stewart examines the perjury epidemic through the cases of Martha Stewart, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Barry Bonds, and Bernie Madoff, and explores the broader breakdown in ethics in America.
    James B. Stewart - Tangled Webs: How False Statements Are Undermining America
    Thursday, June 14, 2012
    Central Library

    Author James B. Stewart examines America’s perjury epidemic through the cases of Martha Stewart, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Barry Bonds, and Bernie Madoff in a public conversation with Kansas City Public Library Director Crosby Kemper III. They will also discuss the broader breakdown in ethics and the age-old tension between greed and justice, self-interest and public interest, loyalty and duty.

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  • Military historian Ethan S. Rafuse delves into the life and accomplishments of Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson, perhaps the Confederacy’s greatest military strategist.
    Ethan S. Rafuse: “Stonewall” Jackson
    Thursday, June 7, 2012
    Central Library

    Ethan S. Rafuse of the military history department of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth discusses the life and accomplishments of Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson.

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  • Historian Robert Rydell examines how world’s fairs inspired and promoted innovations in architecture, the arts, science, technology, and consumer culture.
    Robert Rydell: Innovations at World’s Fairs and the World They Made
    Wednesday, June 6, 2012
    Central Library

    Historian Robert Rydell describes how world’s fairs inspired and promoted innovations in architecture, the arts, music, science, and technology, not to mention consumer culture and mass entertainment. His presentation complements the exhibit Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World’s Fairs, 1851-1939 currently on display at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

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  • Walter Cronkite biographer Douglas Brinkley looks at the life and career of the CBS newsman who became “Uncle Walter,” the most trusted man in America.
    Douglas Brinkley: Cronkite
    Tuesday, June 5, 2012
    Plaza Branch

    Biographer Douglas Brinkley looks at the life and career of CBS newsman Walter Cronkite, the St. Joseph native who became the most trusted man in America. Drawing on newly disclosed letters, diaries and interviews with nearly 200 of Cronkite’s friends and colleagues, Cronkite reveals not an icon but a real human with passions, loves, and occasional enmities.

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