Lectures For Lifelong Learners!

Many of us know something about Churchill’s role as Prime Minister during World War II, but he had an interesting life from start to finish. This talk will review Churchill’s early life and rise to fame and his long and eventful career in politics. It will explore what made him such a great orator and his ability to foresee threats like the Third Reich. This talk will cover both familiar and less familiar parts of Churchill’s fascinating life story and listeners will leave with a better understanding of the man and the hero and the importance of strong and principled leadership.

The soldiers of World War I are often described as “lions led by donkeys.” The war’s generals are considered some of the worst. But there were great leaders in the Great War among the junior officers, who could even get men to follow them out of the trenches to almost certain death. This lecture will look at the lives and obituaries of excellent British junior officers, with a focus on five key traits: bravery, self-sacrifice, a sense of duty, gallantry, and cheerfulness. The listener will come away with a better understanding of the Great War and of how great leaders succeed in some of the most trying conditions.

During the Battle of Britain, Winston Churchill praised the RAF saying that “never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” This talk looks at heroism in World War II, highlighting many different types of examples. We will consider the heroism of leaders like Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. We will look at the heroism of ordinary American soldiers, by considering the challenges of some of the war’s fiercest battles. You will hear about the heroic efforts of civilians, in Britain and in Russia. And you will hear about Ernie Pyle–who represented the heroism of a wartime correspondent and was an important link to the people back home in America, sharing information about their heroes.

Theodore Roosevelt was one of our most dynamic presidents. This talk covers his early life, his experience with loss, his political career, his connection to Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, and his long-term legacy. How did a young man with asthma from a privileged background become one of our most active and outdoorsy presidents whose time in office did so much to help everyday Americans? By the end of the talk you’ll know more about the experiences and motivations of Teddy Roosevelt and understand why he is one of our most inspiring political leaders.

Despite the persistence of liberal arts colleges, some people today consider the liberal arts a luxury or a bastion of elitism. Historically, the “liberal arts” were the arts of a free people, contrasted with the “servile arts.” The ancients thought they were essential to good citizens and true freedom. That might seem like a bold interpretation of subjects like literature, history, science, and philosophy, but it was by reading the speeches and dialogues in The Columbia Orator that Frederick Douglass came to set his sights upon freedom from slavery. The liberal arts still have that power to inspire and empower today. What are the liberal arts, exactly? Why do they matter? This lecture will answer those questions and explore why the liberal arts are for everyone.

The Renaissance is one of the most famous periods in art history, but why? This talk explores what set the Renaissance apart from earlier eras and how it set the course for the future of art. This talk will cover the major artists, Renaissance art techniques, and the rise of the modern individual. At the end of the talk, you’ll be able to explain the significance of the time period and some of its major works and figures.

Modern art: some people love it, some people hate it. But what is it? This talk will explore the Abstract Expressionist movement. We will talk about its history, key figures, and significance. By the end, you will be more familiar with some of the major abstract expressionist artists (Pollock, Rothko, Krasner, de Kooning, Frankenthaler) and some of their key works. You will understand how these creative disruptors kickstarted a new era in modern art.

This talk will examine Ernest Hemingway as one of the best American authors. We will begin with some biographical information and then talk about why 20th century American literature was so exciting, including the competition to write “the great American novel.” This talk will illustrate what was so revolutionary about Hemingway’s style and cover his most significant works. By the end, listeners will have a better understanding of Hemingway’s legacy as an iconic writer and American, one still emulated and adored today despite his trials and flaws.

World War One is considered a very literary war. Compared to other conflicts, this war produced the most poetry and literature. This talk covers some of the significant writers of the war and their work. Subjects include: Rupert Brooke, ee Cummings, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, and John Dos Passos.

Jane Addams was the founder of Hull-House, a unique settlement house that served immigrants and the poor and worked to make turn-of-the-century Chicago a more livable place. She met Leo Tolstoy, advocated for peace and women’s rights, and cared passionately about citizenship and making good citizens. This talk explores the life and work of the woman considered the founder of social work and nicknamed “Saint Jane.”

Some of the first complex human societies were located in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Why were those ideal sites for the rise of civilization and what were those civilizations like? This lecture offers a brief overview of some of the earliest moments of documented human history.

Around the year 1500, England was a small country without global influence. By the 1950s, England was at the helm of the most dominant empire in the world. We know that the “sun never set on the British Empire,” but how did England achieve such an empire? And how did that affect people in other parts of the world?

In 1910, Robert Falcon Scott and his crew set out to be the first to reach the South Pole. He wanted to achieve the honor for England. Not only did Scott fail to reach the pole first, he and some of his men perished, probably needlessly. Why was this expedition the basis of a book appropriately titled The Worst Journey in the World, and what could have been done differently?