We’ve all gone to a history lecture and said WOW, “I could listen to that speaker all day.” Who are your favorite history lecturers? I am not referring as much to classroom teachers as I am people who can hold a room as a plenary speaker at an academic conference or public lecturer?
Here are four I have enjoyed in recent years:
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Heather Cox Richardson
Ed Ayers
Kate Bowler
At Messiah College I saw Ken Burns and Jon Meacham in two of the guest speakers series.
I consider them historians and their topics were both on aspects of US history.
They were incredible as speakers.
I especially was impressed by something Ken Burns did. His talk was in sections that each featured a different historical character. When he ended a section he would pause for about three seconds and then say “Listen” in a very distinctive way before moving on. It was spellbinding.
Jon Meacham spoke about leadership using various past presidents as examples. He was very insightful but reachable by those not well versed in our history.
Perhaps the highlight that evening was the portion devoted to questions from the audience. People asked great questions and he handled them wonderfully and often with humor. The best were about the current state of the union and our president’s leadership skills.
Thanks, Jeff. I was there for both lectures. And you are correct!
In no particular order:
Bud Robertson
Gary Gallagher
Peter Carmichael
Brooks Simpson
Allen Guelzo
Apparently a Civil War buff