Author Philip Dray looks at Benjamin Franklin's work as a scientist, particularly his work with lightning and electricity. Dray examines opposition and detraction that Franklin faced based on religious grounds—objections that he was interfering with the weapons of God—and compares Franklin's struggles with these detractors to the American struggle to define itself after the Revolutionary War. His presentation includes slides.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin explains how Abraham Lincoln rose from obscurity to become one of the most significant presidents in the nation's history.

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Lyndon B. Johnson biographer Robert Caro introduces a panel discussion on the presidency and legacy of LBJ, with the panel including writers; historians; and former adviser to President Johnson, Jack Valenti.

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Art historian Douglass Shand-Tucci details the life of Boston architect Ralph Adams Cram (1863-1942), designer of major works such as West Point, Princeton University, and Rice University. Shand-Tucci emphasizes Dram's diverse interests and endeavors, reaching far beyond architecture.

Producer Callie Crossley leads a panel of black journalists in a discussion on the power of the black press in social movements, beginning in the 1800s and continuing to the present day. The presentation includes an audio clip from the documentary Soldiers Without Swords.

Scholar Douglas L. Wilson examines Thomas Jefferson's life and his love of books. Wilson discusses Jefferson's personal library, which eventually became the foundation of the Library of Congress.

Professor John W. Dawson explores the relationship between Albert Einstein and Kurt Godel during their years at Princeton University (1940-1955). He focuses on the contrasting personalities, revolutionary results, consonant worldviews, and confluent interests in the nature of time that underlay their bond of friendship.

Boston Historical Society editor Helen R. Deese discusses the 45-volume diary of Boston Transcendentalist, feminist, writer, and reformer Caroline Healey Dall (1822-1912). Deese focuses on the thorough, extensive picture of the life of a 19th-century woman that the diaries represent.

Professor Lewis Dabney traces the life of Edmund Wilson (1895-1972), major literary critic of the 20th century. Dabney discusses Wilson's three classics of literary and intellectual history—Axel's Castle, To the Finland Station, and Patriotic Gore—and the many women with whom Wilson had rocky relationships.

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