Allen C. Guelzo is the Senior Research Scholar at the Council of Humanities at Princeton University. He is the author of numerous books about the Civil War and early nineteenth century. He has been the recipient of the Lincoln Prize three times, the Guggenheimm-Lehrman Prize for Military History, and many other honors.

What we cover –

Allen C. Guelzo is a premier historian and well known for his seventeen books as well as his riveting lectures offered by the The Great Courses. In his new book, "Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy and the American Experiment," Guelzo looks at our greatest president and his thoughts on democracy. (Says George F. Will: "It is altogether fitting and proper that, with this meditation on democracy and its most subtle defender Allen Guelzo again demonstrates that he is today's most profound interpreter of this nation's history and significance." Join us as we discuss not only the past, but what that past has to say about our extremely precarious present.

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Maria Smilios is the author of The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis. Working as a development editor in the biomedical field, Smilios came upon the story of the African-American nurses who played a key role in the cure of tuberculosis and she just had to share it. The result is a gripping account of the lives of the women who came to New York and performed heroically against tremendous odds.

What we cover –

• The scourge of tuberculosis in the early 19th century and how it threatened the lives of millions of Americans.
• Why a medical institute in New York that was dedicated to combating tuberculosis looked to African-Americans living in the south to fill its nursing positions.
• The effects of Jim Crow on these nurses and the continued racism they combatted in New York.

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H.W. Brands is one of the pre-eminent historians today and has written numerous books that have not only won plaudits and awards but have changed the way we look at figures as diverse as Benjamin Franklin, Franklin Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. We discuss his new book, Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of the American Politics. With one eye glued to our current political situation – in particular, the events of January 6th, 2021, in which, for the first time in American history, citizens were encouraged to defy the results of a presidential election – Brands delves into the political views as well as the personal proclivities of four individuals who hd a profound impact on how our country evolved.

What we cover –

• How Alexander Hamilton and James Madison turned the “fiasco” of the Annapolis Convention into the triumph of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
• The birth and rise of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist/Republican Parties.
• How the Hamilton-Madison alliance turned into one of the most impactful disputes in American history.
• How Thomas Jefferson and James Madison created an alliance that took on the alliance of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton.
• What we can learn today from the country’s initial birth of partisanship.

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