Jon Meacham – “America Then and Now: What History Tells Us About Our Future”
Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, a contributor to TIME and The New York Times Book Review, and one of America’s most prominent public intellectuals. A regular guest on Morning Joe, he is known as a skilled raconteur with a depth of knowledge about politics, religion, and current affairs. He understands how issues and events impact our lives and why historical context matters.
Meacham’s latest Presidential biography, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestsellers list in November 2015. The Times said, “Destiny and Power reflects the qualities of both subject and biographer: judicious, balanced, deliberative, with a deep appreciation of history and the personalities who shape it.”
His #1 New York Times bestseller, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, was hailed as “masterful and intimate” by Fortune magazine. His other national bestsellers include Franklin and Winston, American Gospel, and American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009.
A contributing editor at TIME, Meacham writes for the magazine’s Ideas section. He also pens “The Long View” column in The New York Times Book Review in which he “looks back at books that speak to our current historical and cultural moment.” He served as Newsweek’s managing editor from 1998 to 2006 and editor from 2006 to 2010. The New York Times called him “one of the most influential editors in the news magazine business.”He has appeared on Meet The Press, The Colbert Report, and Ken Burns’ documentary series The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. Fox News produced an hour-long special about Meacham’s Destiny and Power in November 2015.
Named a “Global Leader for Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a fellow of the Society of American Historians, and chairs the National Advisory Board of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University. Meacham is a Distinguished Visiting Professor of History at The University of the South and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at Vanderbilt. He is currently at work on a biography of James and Dolley Madison.
This annual speaker series, named for Transylvania County Library Foundation Board member emeritus J. R. McDowell, is designed to present a wide array of viewpoints on challenging and thought-provoking topics. The Library Foundation enhances the Library and the community through five additional areas of support including funds for the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room collection; underwriting special events for children; exploring new technologies in library services; providing continuing education and career enhancement for library staff with the Elizabeth R. Kapp Tyson Professional Development Fund; and memorial gifts and collections.
- Special Discussion and Question Session with Jon Meacham just for BC Faculty, Staff and Students:
Thursday, September 28, 2017 4:00 PM in Scott Commons in the Porter Center for Performing Arts
No ticket is necessary
- Community Presentation by Jon Meacham: “America Then and Now: What History Tells Us About Our Future”
Thursday, September 28, 2017, 6:30 PM
Scott Concert Hall of the Porter Center for Performing Arts, Brevard College
Free tickets are available to BC faculty, staff, and students and their spouses.