Trails West Branch will close early Thursday, January 26th at 5 p.m. due staffing issues.
Signature Event Archive
Search the Signature Event Archive to discover past Library events. Watch videos, hear speaker interviews, and listen to audio recordings of previous presentations. Search by keyword (event title, subject, or presenter name), location or by date range.
In a discussion of his definitive biography, bestselling author Jeff Pearlman discusses the life and exploits of one of the greatest athletes in history. Bo Jackson starred in baseball (with the Kansas City Royals) and football, and Nike’s “Bo knows” commercials helped cement him as a cultural icon. A career-shortening injury only fed his legend: What more might he have done?
Lucille Windsor, Paul Hindemith, Lamar Sims, Robert Gibby Brand
Four acclaimed Kansas City-area performers join a special musical celebration of Venice, Italy, and all who’ve fallen into its incurable thrall over the centuries. The 70-minute program spotlights the works of classical composers and popular songwriters who lived, worked, and played in Venice – from Giuseppe Verdi and Gioachino Rossini to Cole Porter and Noel Coward.
The annual Searching the Psyche Through Cinema series, which looks to the arts to illuminate our understanding of ourselves, returns in partnership with the Greater Kansas City-Topeka Psychoanalytic Center. Leading off: a screening of Silver Linings Playbook (2012, R, 122 min.) and discussion led by psychoanalyst John Whipple and film critic Beck Ireland.
In the launch of a new series, Turning Points, in partnership with the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, military historian David W. Mills looks at America’s decision to provide desperately needed food relief to vanquished Germans at the end of World War II. It eventually turned Germany into a close ally, which it remains to this day.
Drawing from her KC 1900 blog series, local author and historian LaDene Morton details how Kansas City rallied from a devastating setback – a fire in April 1900 that destroyed the grand new convention hall set to house the Democratic National Convention. It was rebuilt in time to welcome 11,000 delegates and spectators at the convention’s opening three months later, on July 4.
Military historian Christopher Johnson assesses the 2003 film The Last Samurai – starring Tom Cruise – and its depiction of social, political, and military transition in Japan in the 1870s in the latest installment of the Library’s Hollywood vs. History series in partnership with the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
Think barbecue is all Kansas City has to offer? Matt Stewart says that’s far, far from true. The Fox4 News reporter discusses his new book Unique Eats and Eateries of Kansas City with the Library’s Anne Kniggendorf, exploring a few of the 86 best – and most unusual – dishes and restaurants the city has to offer.
John Musgrave has been candid about his Vietnam War experiences and related struggles, notably as a featured voice in Ken Burns’ documentary series The Vietnam War and most recently in an acclaimed memoir, The Education of Corporal John Musgrave. In a special Library event, the Independence native discusses the book and his life during and since the war.
Alexander Chee, Whitney Terrell, V.V. Ganeshananthan
Writers for Readers
Writers for Readers returns with a special lineup featuring celebrated author Alexander Chee and the announcement of the winner of the second annual Maya Angelou Book Award. Proceeds from this fundraising event go in part to support the award and benefit an ongoing partnership between the Kansas City Public Library and UMKC's MFA Program in Creative Writing, enabling graduate students to teach writing classes at the Library.
Military historian Dirk Ringgenberg assesses the historical accuracy of the 2001 film Black Hawk Down, which depicts the horrific battle that erupted when U.S. forces attempted to capture two lieutenants of a notorious Somali warlord in 1993. The presentation is part of the Hollywood vs. History series in partnership with the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.