Professor David Foster analyzes Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, looking at what the novel, its characters, and the life of its author reveal about the "American character" and views of American ideals and life at the time of its writing.

This lecture continues from the lecture Mark Twain and the American Character, Part One.

For the lecture, follow the link below and scroll down to the second seminar under Wednesday, August 4.

An older version of this lecture can be found here.

Professor David Foster analyzes Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, looking at what the novel, its characters, and the life of its author reveal about the "American character" and views of American ideals and life at the time of its writing.

For the lecture, follow the Website Title link and scroll down to the first seminar under Wednesday, August 4.

This lecture continues in Mark Twain and the American Character, Part Two.

An older version of this lecture can be found here.

Professor Lucas E. Morel reviews the life and views of Martin Luther King, Jr., focusing on the March on Washington and King's "I Have a Dream" speech. This lecture continues from the lecture Martin Luther King, Jr., Part One.

For the lecture, scroll down to the third seminar of Wednesday, August 4. Readings, available for download, accompany the lecture.

An older version of this lecture can be found here.

Professor Lucas E. Morel reviews the life and views of Martin Luther King, Jr., examining his views of race relations, his religious beliefs, and his definition of civil disobedience, as suggested in his writings and speeches. This lecture continues in the lecture Martin Luther King, Jr., Part Two.

For the lecture, scroll down to the second seminar of Wednesday, August 4. Readings, available for download, accompany the lecture.

An older version of this lecture can be found here.

Professor Gordon Lloyd looks at the Constitutional Convention and the debate over what form the new government and its constitution should take. He examines the Virginia Plan, the revised Virginia Plan, the New Jersey Plan, and the Hamilton Proposal.

To listen to this lecture, scroll to session four, and select the RealAudio text or image in the gray bar to the left of the main body text.

Norman Ornstein discusses the changing U.S national political atmosphere following the 9/11 attacks and his opinions on these changes, as well as speaking briefly on his career as a political writer.

To listen to this interview, scroll to "Norman Ornstein" and select "Watch the Video."

On this electronic field trip, students get the chance to see up close historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Students will also have entry to the entire Independence National Historical Park with 21 historical sites available for fascinating tours.

Samantha Hunt, author of the historical fiction novel The Invention of Everything Else, written from the perspective of inventor Nikola Tesla, reads an excerpt from her novel and briefly talks about the inventor's life and personality.

In this lecture, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author David Levering Lewis examines Du Bois's largely-forgotten work as a writer of historical fiction, whose journey "beyond the borders of social science certitude" was the result of a "poetic temperament combined with an intellectual's dissatisfaction about the limits of the historically knowable." Lewis discusses Du Bois's early historical novels, The Quest of the Silver Fleece and Dark Princess; as well as the later Black Flame Trilogy (The Ordeal of Mansart, Mansart Builds a School, and Worlds of Color). In a brief question and answer session, Lewis comments on Du Bois's persecution at the hands of the U.S. government during the 1950s, his reputation as a "ladies' man," and his early life and education in Great Barrington, MA.