Why You Should Read George Orwell with Dr Laura Beers
Release Date: 06/12/2025
The Story of Hunter S. Thompson: The Good Life Gone Awry with Kevin Hayes
McConnell Center Podcast
Join the as we welcome Kevin Hayes, PhD for a discussion on the work and life of Hunter S. Thompson. Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Kevin J. Hayes spent his twenties living the life of a bike bum, but he eventually went to graduate school at the University of Delaware, graduating with his PhD in English in 1991. After graduation, he became a professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, retiring in 2015 and moving home to Toledo, where he keeps busy reading, writing, and riding his bicycle. He has published numerous books during his career, including The Road to Monticello: The Life...
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Why You Should Read Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain with Mark Meade
McConnell Center Podcast
Join Mark C Meade for a discussion regarding the importance of The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton. is the Assistant Director of the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University. In over 20 years at the Center as an archivist, he has assisted scholars from around the world while himself presenting and publishing internationally on Merton's writings. Mark served as the sixteenth president of the International Thomas Merton Society. His scholarship has focused on Merton's autobiography and dialogue with the writings of Victoria Ocampo, Albert Camus, and Flannery O'Connor....
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One Man’s Freedom: Goldwater, King and the Struggle over an American Ideal with Nicholas Buccola, PhD
McConnell Center Podcast
Join the as we welcome Nicholas Buccola, PhD for the Capt. Daniel H. Utley Memorial Lecture, a talk entitled "One Man’s Freedom: Goldwater, King and the Struggle over an American Ideal." Nicholas Buccola is a writer, lecturer, and teacher who specializes in the area of American political thought. He is the author of One Man’s Freedom: Goldwater, King, and the Struggle over an American Ideal, which will be published by Princeton University Press in October 2025. His previous books include The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America...
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Why You Should Read Hayek on Hayek with Dr. Abby Hall Blanco
McConnell Center Podcast
Join scholars for a presentation from Dr Blanco explaining the importance of Hayek's work and how to understand it in modern times. Abby Hall Blanco is an Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida. She is a Senior Affiliated Scholar with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a Senior Fellow with the Independent Institute in Oakland, California. She is a Non-Resident Fellow with Defense Priorities and a Public Choice and Public Policy Fellow with the American Institute for Economic Research. She earned her PhD in Economics from George Mason...
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Keeping the Republic: A Defense of American Constitutionalism with Marc Landy, PhD
McConnell Center Podcast
Join the as we welcome Dr. Marc Landy for a Constitution Day discussion on Constitutionalism. Marc Landy is the Edward and Louise Peterson Professor of American History and Government at Ashland University and a Professor of Political Science at Boston College. He is the co-author, with Sidney Milkis, of Presidential Greatness and the textbook American Government: Enduring Principles, Critical Choices. His other books include The Environmental Protection Agency from Nixon to Clinton and edited volumes on regulatory reform and public policy. His latest work,...
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Why You Should Read The Federalist with Dr. Gary Gregg
McConnell Center Podcast
Join Director Dr. Gary Gregg for a discussion regarding the importance of The Federalist by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Links to resources referenced in the episode: a copy of Reflection and Choice: The Federalists, the Anti-Federalists, and the Debate that Defined America. our Reflection and Choice podcast series and accompanying reading guide. About the host: An award-winning political science teacher and expert on the U.S. presidency, Gregg has written or edited several books, including Reflection and Choice and Securing...
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Why You Should Read Dr. Seuss with Steve Ealy
McConnell Center Podcast
Join the as we welcome Steve Ealy as he attempts to convince us of the importance of reading the work of Dr. Seuss! Steve Ealy is a Senior Fellow Emeritus at Liberty Fund, Inc. He has published academic articles on Robert Penn Warren, Ralph Ellison, the Qur’an, and The Federalist Papers. He received his BA in political science from Furman University, and earned an MA in government at Claremont Graduate University and his PhD in political science from the University of Georgia. We all know we need to read more and there are literally millions of books on shelves with new...
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Why You Should Read Louis de Bonald with Jerry Salyer
McConnell Center Podcast
Join the as we welcome Jerry Salyer to convince us why we should read the writings of Louis de Bonald! Jerry Salyer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautics from Miami University and a Master of Arts from the Great Books Program of St. John’s College, Annapolis. A veteran of the US Navy, Mr. Salyer has navigated ships, deployed to the Persian Gulf, and served as an assistant security officer at the American naval base in Naples, Italy. He works as an educator and as a freelance writer. We all know we need to read more and there are literally millions of books on...
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Why You Should Read The Education of Henry Adams with Natalie Taylor
McConnell Center Podcast
Join the as we welcome Natalie Fuehrer Taylor for a presentation on the importance of the book The Education of Henry Adams! Natalie Taylor is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Skidmore College. She is the author of The Rights of Woman as Chimera: the Political Philosophy of Mary Wollstonecraft and the editor of A Political Companion to Henry Adams. We all know we need to read more and there are literally millions of books on shelves with new ones printed every day. How do we sort through all the possibilities to find the book that is just...
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Why You Should Read Adam Smith with Amy Willis
McConnell Center Podcast
Join the as we welcome Amy Willis to convince us why we should read the writings of Adam Smith! Amy Willis is a Senior Fellow and Director of Econlib Websites for Liberty Fund. She has published many academic articles, chapters, and curriculum materials centrally themed around economics. She has regularly written for Econlib, AdamSmithWorks, and the Reading Room. We all know we need to read more and there are literally millions of books on shelves with new ones printed every day. How do we sort through all the possibilities to find the book that is just right for us now? Well,...
info_outlineJoin the #McConnellCenter as we welcome Dr, Laura Beers to convince us why we should read the works of George Orwell!
Laura Beers is a historian and professor of history at American University. She earned her undergraduate degree in history from Princeton and went on to earn her master’s and Ph.D. from Harvard. She studies modern Britain with a focus on the ways politics is both influenced and shaped by cultural and social life. Her latest is book is Orwell's Ghosts: Wisdom and Warnings for the Twenty-First Century.
We all know we need to read more and there are literally millions of books on shelves with new ones printed every day. How do we sort through all the possibilities to find the book that is just right for us now?
Well, the McConnell Center is bringing authors and experts to inspire us to read impactful and entertaining books that might be on our shelves or in our e-readers, but which we haven’t yet picked up.
We hope you learn a lot in the following podcast and we hope you might be inspired to pick up one or more of the books we are highlighting this year at the University of Louisville’s McConnell Center.
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This podcast is a production of the McConnell Center