Professor Brendan McConville describes the systematic use of violence and intimidation by revolutionary committees and congresses leading up to the Revolutionary War. He focuses on the British view of these events as attacks and atrocities and on the degree to which the revolutionaries' methods contradicted today's idealistic view of Patriot colonists.

Professor Eric Foner traces the development of the concept of "freedom" in the U.S., beginning with the nation's founding and continuing up to 2005 (the present day at the time of the lecture). He focuses on race relations and fights by minorities for civil liberties as focus points for the definition of freedom.

Professors John W. Dower and Charles S. Maier contrast previous U.S. foreign policy events and relations with the current situation in Iraq, focusing on the U.S. occupation of Japan following World War II and the Marshall Plan designed to stop the spread of Communism in Western Europe.

Professors Robert E. Looney and Executive Director of the Center for International Studies at MIT John Tirman discuss the economy of Iraq, including its past state, its current condition, and the possibilities for its future development. They examine the U.S.'s plans for economic reform in Iraq and their effects so far, and project that past and current conditions will lead to instability and further conflict in the country.

Professor Edward T. Linenthal discusses the similarities and differences in cultural reactions to the events of September 11, 2001, and the aftermath of the Oklahoma City terrorist bombing of April 19, 1995. He explores the co-construction of narrative and memorial process in light of considerations for the World Trade Center and a memorial at the site.

Professor William J. Mitchell and Ph.D. candidate Anthony M. Townsend examine the rebuilding of the digital telecommunications infrastructure in Manhattan following the 9/11 attacks, look at how telecommunications has changed the structure of a city's recovery from disaster, and consider how digital infrastructure may be better protected in future.

Professor Alan Wolfe discusses the role of religion in U.S. politics, particularly in the present day. He argues that the "current Christian revival" in the U.S. is not having a negative, "fundamentalist" effect on U.S. government as a whole.

Professors Lawrence J. Vale, Thomas Kochan, and J. Phillip Thompson discuss issues related to the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina and the recovery of New Orleans. Vale looks at past urban disasters and how these cities have changed and recovered; Kochan contrasts Franklin D. Roosevelt's response to Pearl Harbor with Bush's to Katrina; and Thompson looks at racial tension in New Orleans, prior to and after the hurricane.