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Archive of Previous Great Lives lectures

Click here to view webcasts of lectures from 2005 to the present.

2007
2006
2005
2004

2007

   
January 25 Genghis Khan Nabil Al-Takriti
Assistant Professor
UMW Department of History
February 1 Pocahontas

Margaret Huber
Chair, Distinguished Professor
UMW Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Author of Powhatan Lords of Life and Death

February 6 John Smith David Shields
McClintock Professor of Southern Letters
University of South Carolina
Author of Civil Tongues and Polite Letters in British America
February 22 Thurgood Marshall Juan Williams
Senior Correspondent, National Public Radio
Author of Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary
March 15 George III Jeremy Black
Exeter University
Author of George III: America's Last King
March 20 Stonewall Jackson James I. "Bud" Robertson
Distinguished Professor of History
Virginia Tech
Author of Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend
March 22 Thomas Jefferson Dan Jordan
President, Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Author of Political Leadership in Jefferson's Virginia
March 27 Scott Joplin Katherine K. Preston
David N. and Margaret C. Bottoms Professor of Music
The College of William and Mary
Author of Scott Joplin
April 3 Emily Dickinson Claudia Emerson
Arrington Distinguished Chair of Poetry
Winner of 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry
UMW Department of English
April 5 Walt Disney Steven Watts
University of Missouri-Columbia
Department of History
Author of The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life
April 10 Charles DeGaulle Jason Davidson
Assistant Professor
UMW Department of Political Science and International Affairs
April 12 Fidel Castro Robert Barr
Assistant Professor
UMW Department of Political Science and International Affairs
April 19 Secretariat Bill Nack
Sports Illustrated, retired
Author of Secretariat: The Making of a Champion
April 24 Princess Diana Sally Bedell Smith
Author of Diana In Search of Herself

 

2006

   
January 19 Moses Bruce O'Brien
UMW Department of History
January 26 Dante Giuseppe Mazzotta
Sterling Professor of Italian
Yale University
January 31 Galileo Leanna Giancarlo
UMW Department of Chemistry
February 2 Albert Einstein Alan Lightman
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Author of Einstein's Dreams
February 7 Benjamin Franklin Carter Hudgins
UMW Department of History
February 9 George Washington Edward Lengel
University of Virginia
Author of General George Washington: A Military History
February 16 Martin Luther King, Jr. Roger Wilkins
George Mason University
Author of Jefferson's Pillow
February 23 Malcolm X James Miller
Department of American Studies
George Washington University
March 2 Abraham Lincoln Richard Norton Smith
Executive Director
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
March 16 Jefferson Davis William Davis
Virginia Tech
Author of Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour
March 23 Joan of Arc Mary Gordon
Barnard College
Author of Joan of Arc
March 28 Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Jennifer Jakubecy
UMW Department of Education
March 30 Eleanor Roosevelt Blanche Wiesen Cook
John Jay College, CUNY
Author of Eleanor Roosevelt
April 6 George Patton Porter Blakemore
UMW Department of History
April 13 Henry Ford Steven Watts
University of Missouri - Columbia
Author of The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century
April 18 Robert Kennedy Evan Thomas
Newsweek
Author of Robert Kennedy: His Life
April 20 Harry Truman Stephen Farnsworth
UMW Department of Political Science
April 25 William Faulkner Michael Bibler
UMW Department of English, Linguistics, and Speech
April 27 Muhammad Ali William Nack
Retired Writer, Sports Illustrated

 

2005

   
January 20 Alexander the Great Bruce O'Brien
UMW Department of History
January 27 Muhammad Nabil Al-Tikriti
UMW Department of History
February 3 Eleanor of Aquitaine Teresa Kennedy
UMW Department of English
February 10 Harriet Tubman Catherine Clinton
Author of Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom
February 17 Mozart Kevin Bartram
UMW Department of Music
February 24 Lewis and Clark Jon Kukla
Author of A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America
March 10 Napoleon Jeremy Black
University of Exeter
Author of From Louis XIV to Napoleon
March 17 Robert E. Lee Gary Gallagher
University of Virginia
Author of Lee and His Generals in War and Memory
March 31 Roosevelt and Churchill Jon Meacham
Managing Editor, Newsweek
Author of Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship
April 7 W.E.B. DuBois Dolen Perkins-Valdez
UMW Department of English
April 14 Elvis Presley Gardner Campbell
UMW Department of English
April 21 Jack and Jackie Kennedy Sally Bedell Smith
Author of Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House

 

2004

   
January 20 Cleopatra Bruce O'Brien
UMW Department of History
January 22 Charlemagne JeanAnn Dabb
UMW Department of Art
January 29 Leonardo da Vinci Bulent Atalay
UMW Department of Physics
February 3 Elizabeth I Carter Hudgins
UMW Department of History
February 5 Shakespeare William Kemp
UMW Department of English
February 10 Pocahontas Margaret Huber
UMW Department of Sociology and Anthropology
February 12 Isaac Newton Suzanne Sumner
UMW Department of Mathematics
February 17 Thomas Jefferson William B. Crawley
UMW Department of History
February 19 Ludwig van Beethoven Kevin Bartram
UMW Department of Music
February 24 Charles Darwin David Jarrell
UMW Department of Biological Sciences
March 9 Otto von Bismarck Porter Blakemore
UMW Department of History
March 11 Frederick Douglass Jeffrey McClurken
UMW Department of History
March 16 Harriet Beecher Stowe Arthur Tracy
UMW Department of History
March 18 Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson Frank O'Reilly
National Park Service
March 25 Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton Gregory Stanton
UMW Department of History
March 30 Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes Stephen Stageberg
UMW Department of Economics
April 1 Sigmund Freud Christopher Kilmartin
UMW Department of Psychology
April 6 Mohandas Gandhi David Ambuel
UMW Department of Classics, Philosophy, and Religion
April 8 Joseph Stalin John M. Kramer
UMW Department of Political Science
April 13 Benito Mussolini Jason Davidson
UMW Department of Political Science
April 15 Mao Zedong Chang Liu
UMW Department of History
April 20 Jackie Robinson Thomas Sheridan
UMW Department of Health and Physical Education
April 22 Katherine Hepburn Gardner Campbell
UMW Department of English