Press/Journalists

Noontime Author Talks at the National Archives in January 2018
Press Release · Friday, January 5, 2018

Washington, DC

The National Archives continues its series of daytime programs with authors discussing books on topics including slavery and Supreme Court Justices, the Vietnam War, and the Bill of Rights. All programs will be followed by a booksigning.

These programs are free and open to the public and will be held at noon in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC.  Attendees should use the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW.  Metro accessible on the Yellow and Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter station. Reservations are recommended and can be made online. For those without reservations, seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The Theater doors will open 45 minutes prior to the start of the program. Late seating will not be permitted 20 minutes after the program begins.

BOOK TALK: Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation’s Highest Court
Friday, January 12, 2018; watch a live stream on our YouTube Channel

Legal historian Paul Finkelman discusses his book Supreme Injustice, which highlights the three most important Supreme Court Justices before the Civil War—John Marshall, Roger B. Taney, and Joseph Story—and the proslavery positions they upheld in ruling after ruling.

BOOK TALK: The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam
Wednesday, January 17, 2018; watch a live stream on our YouTube Channel

In this biography of legendary CIA operative Edward Lansdale, military historian Max Boot demonstrates how America’s giant military bureaucracy in Vietnam crushed Lansdale’s policy of diplomacy to win the trust of the Vietnamese people. In The Road Not Taken, he suggests that Vietnam could have concluded very differently had we only listened.

“Remembering Vietnam” is presented in part by the Lawrence F. O’Brien Family, Pritzker Military Museum & Library, AARP, FedEx Corporation, and the National Archives Foundation. Additional support provided by the Maris S. Cuneo Foundation, The Eliasberg Family Foundation, Inc., and HISTORYⓇ.

BOOK TALK: The Heart of the Constitution: How the Bill of Rights Became the Bill of Rights
Friday, January 26, 2018; watch a live stream on our YouTube Channel

Constitutional law professor Gerard Magliocca examines the history behind the Bill of Rights, a document that has meant different things to different generations. In The Heart of the Constitution, Magliocca views the document as a living text that reflects the great ideas of the Constitution but did not achieve its modern form as the most powerful symbol on the limits of governmental power until after World War II.  

BOOK TALK: A Rift in the Earth: Art, Memory, and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial
Tuesday, January 30, 2018; watch a live stream on our YouTube Channel
James Reston, Jr.'s A Rift in the Earth tells the remarkable story of the ferocious “art war” that raged between 1979 and 1984 over what kind of memorial should be built to honor the men and women who died in the Vietnam War. The story intertwines art, politics, historical memory, patriotism, racism, and a fascinating set of characters, from those who fought in the conflict and those who resisted it to politicians at the highest level.

“Remembering Vietnam” is presented in part by the Lawrence F. O’Brien Family, Pritzker Military Museum & Library, AARP, FedEx Corporation, and the National Archives Foundation. Additional support provided by the Maris S. Cuneo Foundation, The Eliasberg Family Foundation, Inc., and HISTORYⓇ.

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For media inquiries, please contact: National Archives Public and Media Communications at (202) 357-5300 or via email at public.affairs@nara.gov.

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This page was last reviewed on January 19, 2018.
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