UofL offering free public talks on ‘Debating America’

Series to begin Sept. 12 at McConnell Center

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Aug. 11, 2014) — The University of Louisville’s McConnell Center will offer four, free public talks this fall in a series called “Debating America.”

Each talk begins at 6 p.m. in Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium.

Follwing is the schedule:

• “Hamilton vs. Jefferson: Who’s the MVP of the American Founding?,” Michael Federici, political science professor, Mercyhurst University, and Michael Schwartz, assistant professor of history, Ashland University, Ohio, Sept. 12.
• “Scale: Is America Too Big?,” Donald Livingston, professor emeritus of philosophy, Emory University, Oct. 14. Livingston, an expert on Scottish philosopher David Hume, helped found the Abbeville Institute, a group of scholars who study the American South.
• “The War on Poverty: 50 Years of Debating the Great Society,” Kent Germany, associate professor of history and African American studies, University of South Carolina, Oct. 28. Germany has co-edited two books about Lyndon Johnson and the 1960s.
• “Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders,” Denise Spellberg, associate professor of history, University of Texas at Austin, Nov. 11. Spellberg wrote a book exploring Jefferson’s lifelong interest in Islam.